Working Together: Building Successful Policy and Program Partnerships for Immigrant Integration,

Journal on Migration and Human Security, 5:1 (2017), 18 pp.

Authors:  Els de Graauw & Irene Bloemraad

This essay argues for a "robust and coherent" national immigrant integration policy -- one that is "vertically integrated" through all levels of government, and "horizontally integrated" to encompass public and private sector actors and various types of immigrant destinations. At the apex of this structure would be a "national immigrant affairs office with dedicated staff and funding to oversee, develop and coordinate immigrant and refugee integration among federal departments and across levels of government." The authors also call for an expansion of the Office of Citizenship at DHS and a broadening of the role of the Federal Office of Refugee Resettlement at DHHS.  The essay provides a summary of federal, state and local efforts to promote immigrant integration over the last two decades, including the establishment of 44 formalized city offices dedicated to immigrant affairs, the creation of five state offices with a similar mandate, and initiatives in 90 municipalities to develop immigrant affairs commissions, task forces, or programs related to immigrant integration. At the same time, new public-private partnerships, such as the National Partnership for New Americans and Welcoming America, have been established to enhance communication among these various entities and to provide additional resources for their work. The authors also reference the nascent work of the Bush and Obama administrations to articulate and develop a federal role in immigrant integration. Without such a role, the authors suggest, the United States will likely lag behind the performance of other countries, especially in such areas as naturalization, economic self-sufficiency, and residential integration.

Civic Participation