American Immigrant Policy Portal
Newsletter 
Click here to visit the Portal May/2017
In This Issue

   
Research to Inform Policy and Practice   
on Migration-Related Issues
  
Policy-related reports, studies, and information about the challenge and promise of immigrant integration. Materials organized by collection topic.
Click on headlines for abstracts and links.

FeatureResearchFeatured Research

Paper details how the Trump administration is using the "pu blic r elations machinery" of the federal government to stigmatize undocumented immigrants

Migration Policy Institute, Policy Beat, March 22, 2017, 6 pp,
Authors:  Muzaffar Chishti, Sarah Pierce, & Jessica Bolter
This paper calls attention to an organized effort on the part of the Trump administration to produce and disseminate data designed to stigmatize undocumented immigrants and to discredit those local governments providing "sanctuary" to them. Beginning in the rhetoric of the presidential campaign, this effort took concrete form in a series of presidential executive orders, including one requiring the Department of Homeland Security to provide weekly reports on criminal actions by noncitizens, quarterly reports "studying the effects of victimization by criminal aliens," and quarterly reports on the immigration status of noncitizens in the prison population. Another order requires Immigration and Customs Enforcement to issue a weekly "Declined Detainer Outcome Report," publicizing those states and localities that refuse to hold undocumented prisoners after having served their sentences. According to the authors, "such collection and use of governmental information to disparage other government entities is highly unusual, if not unprecedented." The thrust of this entire effort is to use the "public relations machinery" of the federal government to "build a perpetual news-generation mechanism that showcases instances where immigrants and refugees pose a threat to society or impose costs." The essay includes a table summarizing all of the new reporting, which if implemented, will produce at least 120 reports in the first year. "What use these reports will be put to beyond shaping public opinion remains to be seen."

 
NewResearchNew Public Policy Research and Reports

Adult Education and Workforce Training
LIRS publishes report on a pilot project to make the workforce system more responsive to the needs of immigrants and refugees


Economic Development, Employment and Labor Issues
Chicago Council paper stresses the vital role played by immigrants in reversing population decline and stimulating economic activity in 46 metro areas in the Midwest

Polaris Project publishes a typology of human trafficking, based on more than 32,000 cases of human trafficking reported on U.S. hotlines


Intergroup Relations
Essay discusses how the "clash of civilizations" narrative promoted by the Trump administration has eroded support for refugee resettlement in the U.S. and what can be done to combat it

Paper calls attention to the recurring theme of nativism in American immigration history and to the critical role played by public officials in countering it


National Perspectives/Immigration Policy
CAP publishes a new edition of its "Facts on Immigration Today"

Niskanen Center publishes overview of refugee resettlement in the United States

Paper proposes new policy approach for dealing with "unconventional refugees" from Central America -- neither asylum nor deterrence, but "something in-between"


Global Perspectives
Paper from the Transatlantic Council articulates principles for rebuilding migration management systems in the aftermath of recent refugee crises

  
 
lcLatest Commentary
 
 
A selection of recent OpEds from immigration researchers and major opinion leaders




 
May 17, 2017
How can we blunt prejudice against immigrants?
Jennifer Couzin-Frankel, Science Magazine
May 15,2017
Immigration is at the Heart of U.S. Competitiveness
Mohammed Ali, Harvard Business Review

May 8, 2017
The way Trump talks about immigration is a textbook authoritarian technique for consolidating power
Anna Campoy, Quartz

May 6, 2017
The GOP's brilliant new plan to copy Canada's immigration system
Shikha Dalmia, The Week
Read More

May 1, 2017
America is pushing away immigrant talent
Rajshree Agarwal, USAToday

May 1, 2017
How crossing the US-Mexico border became a crime
Kelly Lytle Hernandez, The Conversation

April 24, 2017
Does cooperating with ICE harm local police? What the research says
Patria de Lancer Julnes & Jennifer C. Gibs, The Conversation

April 16, 2017
Opposing immigration wasn't always racist
Peter Skerry, The Boston Globe
Read More

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The Portal is a project of Diversity Dynamics, LLC, in association with the Center for International Social Work, School of Social Work, Rutgers University, and the Immigrant Learning Center, Inc., Public Education Institute, Malden, MA. Please send content suggestions for the Portal, including events of interest, to: mail@usdiversitydynamiccs.com. No endorsements implied for research, opinions, resources or events featured on the Portal.