Economics of Immigration

The enforcement of immigration laws is a complex and hotly-debated topic. Learn more about the costs of immigration enforcement and the ways in which the U.S. can enforce our immigration laws humanely and in a manner that ensures due process.

Recent Features

All Economics of Immigration Content

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December 1, 2006
One question that recently received heightened attention from lawmakers is whether or not immigrants should be admitted to the United States less on the basis of family ties and more on the basis of...
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October 1, 2006
By Giovanni Peri, Ph.D.A crucial question in the current debate over immigration is what impact immigrants have on the wages of native...
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September 1, 2006
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August 1, 2006
New data from the 2005 American Community Survey (ACS), released by the Census Bureau on August 15, 2006, underscore the extent to which immigration continues to fuel the expansion of the U.S. labor...
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August 1, 2006
Benjamin Johnson, Director of the Immigration Policy Center, discusses the futility of an enforcement-only approach to immigration reform and the need for a more comprehensive strategy to deal with...
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August 1, 2006
Shortages of skilled labor constitute the foremost challenge confronting U.S. manufacturers who face growing competition from manufacturers in Asia, Eastern Europe, and elsewhere. Demand for...
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July 1, 2006
By Sarita A. Mohanty, M.D., M.P.H.Despite the important role that immigrants play in the U.S. economy, they disproportionately...
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March 1, 2006
Foreign-born workers do not substitute perfectly for, and therefore do not compete with, most native-born workers. Rather, the complementary nature of the skills, occupations, and abilities of...
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May 1, 2005
Given the extent to which undocumented immigrants already living in the United States are part of U.S.-based families, comprehensive immigration reform must include more than just a new temporary...
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May 1, 2005
Although immigration is crucial to the growth of the U.S. labor force and yields a net fiscal benefit to the U.S. economy, current immigration policies fail to respond to actual labor demand.
September 11, 2017

In a unanimous decision, the Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court’s decision on Friday in Hawaii v. Trump, allowing extended family members as well as certain refugees to enter the United States. In...

September 8, 2017

Industries across the nation may find themselves in dangerously short supply of workers if no solution is found for the 800,000 young immigrants now at risk of deportation due to the termination...

August 30, 2017

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has reportedly begun targeting undocumented parents and guardians who allegedly paid human smugglers to bring their children to the United States to...

August 17, 2017

The Trump administration announced on Wednesday that it was terminating the CAM (Central American Minors) Parole Program, a special program which allows certain at-risk children in Central America...

August 14, 2017

America’s farmers have been acutely aware of the consequences of restrictive immigration policies for some time. When migration levels drop or restrictive policies drive migrants out of the state...

August 11, 2017

The Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy Act (RAISE Act) seeks to dramatically reshape American immigration by favoring youth and a narrow set of skills over family values and...

August 9, 2017

An immigration judge ordered the immediate release of a three-year-old immigrant child and his mother from a detention center in rural Pennsylvania on Monday, stating that it was one of the most...

August 3, 2017

The administration revealed legislation this week that seeks to drastically reshape American immigration, moving away from the family based immigration tradition that has both shaped our...

July 27, 2017

The recent trend of broadly labeling unaccompanied immigrant children as criminals and gang members is just the latest in a series of attacks on some of the most vulnerable individuals in the U.S...

July 26, 2017

Over 300,000 individuals who currently have legal status could lose it if their Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is terminated over the course of the next year. Nationals of ten countries who have...

November 8, 2018

Jeff Sessions resigned as Attorney General on Wednesday, less than two years after the Senate narrowly confirmed him to the post. Sessions’ tenure as the nation’s highest-ranking law enforcement...

October 25, 2018

With the midterm elections fast approaching, immigration has become—yet again—one of the hottest political topics among candidates and likely voters. Much of the public debate over immigration is...

October 24, 2018

When people feel welcomed into a community, great things often happen that benefit the receiving community and even the nation. When newcomers feel accepted and included in a society, it provides...

October 17, 2018

Insurers have always depended on large numbers of participants to pay into a pool so that those with the highest rates of usage are covered by those with lower rates. In other words, everyone in...

September 20, 2018

Every year, the Census Bureau releases new data from its American Community Survey (ACS), which contains a wealth of information about the characteristics of the U.S. population. Without fail,...

August 29, 2018

The power of the U.S. workforce is that both native- and foreign-born workers complement one another with different and equally needed skill sets. They cannot simply be substituted for one another...

August 14, 2018

America’s generosity is reflected in our immigration system. Throughout our nation’s history (with some shameful exceptions), we have allowed individuals to come to the United States to reunite...

June 28, 2018

The Trump administration is quietly attempting to revamp the U.S. immigration system by circumventing Congress and changing the nation’s immigration policies through new federal regulations. The...

June 12, 2018

Migration based on family ties has long been the foundation of the U.S. immigration system. Yet lawmakers are proposing drastic cuts to family-based immigration in favor of immigrants who come to...

June 12, 2018
Through analysis of data from the decennial census and administrative data from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, this special report examines the earnings gains over time of all immigrants, as well as the earnings gains experienced by family-based immigrants compared to employment-based immigrants.

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