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11. Four Years of Profound Change: Immigration Policy during the Trump Presidency

Author:
Jessica Bolter, Emma Israel, and Sarah Pierce
Publication Date:
02-2022
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
Over the course of four years, the Trump administration set an unprecedented pace for executive action on immigration, enacting 472 administrative changes that dismantled and reconstructed many elements of the U.S. immigration system. Humanitarian protections were severely diminished. The U.S.-Mexico border became more closed off. Immigration enforcement appeared more random. And legal immigration became out of reach for many. All of this was accomplished nearly exclusively by the executive branch, with sweeping presidential proclamations and executive orders, departmental policy guidance, and hundreds of small, technical adjustments. This report, which concludes a series of MPI reports providing an overview of policies at different points during the Trump administration, chronicles the immigration actions, large and small, that President Donald Trump and his administration took from January 20, 2017, through January 20, 2021. After an overview of the transformation of the U.S. immigration system during this historic period, the report breaks these hundreds of changes down by issue area: the administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic; border and interior enforcement; actions involving the Department of Justice and the immigration court system; the admission of refugees, asylum seekers, and other humanitarian migrants; changes to vetting and visa processes, which involve the State Department, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Department of Labor; and actions involving agencies usually less central to immigration policy discussions. As the authors write, “While it may be possible for subsequent administrations to rescind many of these changes, others cannot simply be unwound.” Many are likely to remain on the books for years to come, with a lasting impact on the U.S. immigration system.
Topic:
Law Enforcement, Border Control, Employment, Refugees, Citizenship, Economy, Resettlement, Donald Trump, Asylum, Integration, Deportation, COVID-19, Immigration Policy, Illegal Immigration, and DREAM Act
Political Geography:
United States of America

12. The Central Role of Cooperation in Australia’s Immigration Enforcement Strategy

Author:
Henry Sherrell
Publication Date:
03-2022
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
Over the past three decades, cooperation with other countries has become a central part of Australia’s immigration enforcement strategy. These partnerships are central to Australian efforts to deter irregular maritime migration, tackle people smuggling, provide access to humanitarian protection while minimizing abuse of the asylum process, and return people without grounds to remain. International cooperation has not been without challenges, however. While effective in curbing irregular maritime arrivals, Australian policies—including boat turnbacks and offshore processing of asylum claims in other countries—have raised serious concerns about asylum seekers’ access to effective refugee status determination processes, human-rights violations, and the substantial costs of such policies. This report from MPI's Transatlantic Council on Migration examines the role cooperation plays within Australian immigration enforcement. It looks at bilateral cooperation with countries such as Indonesia, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Cambodia, and the United States, as well as regional cooperation through the Bali Process. Among the questions it asks: What should Australia prioritize for future cooperation? How can partnerships be made more sustainable? And how should Australia approach the tradeoffs inherent to this cooperation, particularly those surrounding access to humanitarian protection?
Topic:
International Cooperation, Governance, Border Control, Refugees, Smuggling, Asylum, Deportation, Immigration Policy, and Illegal Immigration
Political Geography:
Australia

13. Obscure but Powerful: Shaping U.S. Immigration Policy through Attorney General Referral and Review

Author:
Sarah Pierce
Publication Date:
01-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
Over the course of four years, the Trump administration used a wide range of executive action tools to make sweeping changes to the U.S. immigration system. Among them is an obscure but powerful bureaucratic authority known as the attorney general’s “referral and review” power. By allowing the attorney general to review and overrule decisions made by the Board of Immigration Appeals (the immigration appellate body within the U.S. Department of Justice), referral and review makes it possible to alter or reinterpret the application of immigration laws—at times with wide-reaching effects. While the frequent and consequential use of this power by Trump-era attorneys general drew increased attention to it, many of the concerns that have been raised about it predate the Trump administration. Among them: that it allows the attorney general—the country’s chief law enforcement officer—to intercede in individual cases, raising questions about the independence of the immigration adjudication system; that referral and review decisions are made with minimal procedural safeguards or transparency; and that the power has remained in the Justice Department, even as most immigration functions were moved to the Department of Homeland Security when that agency was created nearly two decades ago. This report explores how referral and review has evolved over time, including under the Trump administration, whose attorneys general referred more cases to themselves for review than those in any prior administration, Republican or Democrat. The report also looks closely at the two areas of U.S. immigration policy most affected by Trump-era referral and review decisions: the U.S. asylum system and court procedures, including how immigration judges manage their own dockets. Finally, it looks ahead to how the power might be used in the future and recommends ways to improve its use and placement within the immigration bureaucracy.
Topic:
Immigration, Law, Border Control, and Asylum
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

14. Relaunching the Central American Minors Program: Opportunities to Enhance Child Safety and Family Reunification

Author:
Mark Greenberg, Stephanie Heredia, Kira Monin, Celia Reynolds, and Essey Workie
Publication Date:
12-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
The Central American Minors (CAM) Program was created to allow certain children living in dangerous conditions in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to enter the United States as refugees or parolees to join their parents. The program sought to create a safe, legal, and orderly alternative for children who might otherwise seek to enter the United States by crossing the U.S.-Mexico border unaccompanied. The program began in 2014, the Trump administration announced its termination in 2017, and the Biden administration relaunched it with expanded eligibility in 2021. This report takes a critical look at lessons learned from the program’s earlier iteration and offers recommendations for how to strengthen the relaunched version. It examines, among other things, eligibility criteria, program administration, safety provisions for children awaiting a decision on their case, and the assistance children have access to after they arrive in the United States. “Even with substantial improvements,” the authors write, “it is doubtful that the CAM Program will ever be able to assist more than a small fraction of children who face danger in northern Central America and have parents or close relatives in the United States. Still, with improvements, the program can help significantly greater numbers of children and families seeking relief and family reunification.”
Topic:
Health, Refugees, Immigrants, Resettlement, Asylum, Integration, Immigration Policy, and Family Reunification
Political Geography:
Central America and United States of America

15. EU Strategy on Voluntary Return and Reintegration: Crafting a Road Map to Better Cooperation with Migrants’ Countries of Origin

Author:
Camille Le Coz
Publication Date:
05-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
The return of irregular migrants and asylum seekers whose claims are denied and their sustainable reintegration into origin-country communities have long been priorities for many European policymakers. This has been driven by concerns about low rates of return among those ordered to leave and the implications of this for EU migration and asylum systems. Some are also concerned about the manner in which returns are carried out, with research suggesting that voluntary returns are both more humane and less costly than forced returns. In April 2021, the European Commission published its first EU Strategy on Voluntary Return and Reintegration. The strategy lays out principles to strengthen European assisted voluntary return and reintegration (AVRR) programs, increase voluntary returns, and improve the return process and post-return reintegration assistance. To achieve the strategy’s objectives, European policymakers will need to invest in an often-neglected dimension of AVRR—cooperation with migrants’ countries of origin. This policy brief explores the ways in which origin- and destination-country priorities on returns diverge, opportunities for cooperation where their interests align, and possible next steps for building on the principles outlined in the EU strategy.
Topic:
Development, International Cooperation, International Organization, European Union, Refugees, Asylum, Deportation, Remittances, and Immigration Policy
Political Geography:
Europe

16. Chasing Efficiency: Can Operational Changes Fix European Asylum Systems?

Author:
Hanne Beirens
Publication Date:
03-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
With new EU leadership having taken office in late 2019, Brussels is hungry for fresh ideas that will either revive or reform the Common European Asylum System. The scale and pace of asylum-seeker arrivals on European shores in 2015–16 pushed many Member State systems to a breaking point and brought into glaring focus problems—such as incomplete registration of new arrivals and lengthy case processing backlogs—that existed even before the crisis. Several years on, proposals to address these and other issues through reforms to the EU legal framework for asylum have stalled. Yet, this has also been a period of intense innovation at the national level. Member States have tested new or revamped old ideas to improve the operation of their asylum systems—how they register those seeking protection, offer them reception and material assistance, investigate their protection claims, and then, if their cases are rejected, return them to their origin countries. This MPI Europe-Bertelsmann Stiftung report examines these Member State responses and the wealth of lessons, as well as some cautionary tales, they offer as European leaders contemplate future changes. Among the innovative approaches are the creation in Germany and France of “first-arrival centers” to swiftly register and secure accommodation for newcomers, Swiss “processing centers” that bring together all stakeholders involved in the asylum procedure to make high-quality decisions more quickly, and the Dutch and Swedish “triage” or “track” systems that assign incoming cases to tailored asylum procedures. Understanding this operational dimension—the nuts and bolts of EU asylum systems—is essential for efforts to secure durable improvements. As the author writes, “The era of using (purely) legislative reform to attempt to fix European asylum systems and preserve the integrity of protection regimes has come to an end; the future lies with policy-making approaches, such as a strategic roadmap, that mobilize the full set of tools available.” This is the final report for the Making Asylum Systems Work in Europe initiative, which aims to contribute to efforts to build the capacity of national asylum systems and improve cooperation between EU Member States.
Topic:
International Cooperation, Governance, European Union, Refugees, and Asylum
Political Geography:
Europe

17. Immigration and U.S. National Security: The State of Play Since 9/11

Author:
Amy Pope
Publication Date:
04-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
The wide-ranging reforms that followed the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States significantly strengthened the national security capabilities of immigration agencies. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was created to bridge gaps between the intelligence community and immigration functions. Yet, the restructuring was not comprehensive, and threats to national security continue to evolve. In addition, while the tendency to frame immigration policy through a security lens predates the Trump administration, this now routine practice clouds the picture of who and what pose a threat. This report takes a critical look at the increasingly complex security threats U.S. immigration policy must manage—from public-health emergencies, such as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, to the activities of transnational criminal organizations. It assesses the tools available to respond to these threats, and the successes and challenges to date in innovating as risks evolve. To do so, it traces the evolution of the country’s immigration and border control system, with a focus on how institutions and processes have developed since 9/11. While the U.S. government has made important progress in shoring up weaknesses in its defenses at the nexus of immigration processes and national security, this analysis identifies a number of critical gaps that remain—from a need to more clearly define mission space, to effectively sharing information and transitioning to electronic-based systems. Under the Trump administration, resources and political will have also been steered away from core DHS national security missions, including disaster response, cyber security, and general policy and planning in favor of immigration enforcement measures focused on low-risk unauthorized migrants and asylum seekers. The challenge ahead, the author writes, is to “rebuild the department’s credibility at home and with foreign partners, while recalibrating resource allocations and strengthening its capacity to respond to and manage the most pressing national security threats.” This report is part of MPI’s multiyear Rethinking U.S. Immigration Policy initiative, which aims to generate a big-picture, evidence-driven vision for the role immigration can and should play in America’s future. To learn more about the initiative and read related research, check out the initiative's home page.
Topic:
International Cooperation, National Security, Immigration, Infrastructure, Governance, Border Control, Refugees, Resettlement, and Asylum
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

18. Using Evidence to Improve Refugee Resettlement: A Monitoring and Evaluation Road Map

Author:
Aliyyah Ahad, Camille Le Coz, and Hanne Beirens
Publication Date:
06-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
The refugee resettlement landscape has shifted considerably in recent years. A number of countries in Europe and elsewhere have launched or expanded their resettlement programs, and some have experimented with new models such as community-based or private sponsorship. At the same time, the United States—long the world’s largest resettlement country—has significantly cut its refugee admissions, leaving other countries to take the lead in global efforts to address displacement. For new and longstanding resettlement programs alike, it is vital that policymakers and program designers have the tools to gauge whether resettlement is meeting its objectives, to facilitate continuous learning, and to ensure that funding is being well spent. Robust monitoring and evaluation (M&E) holds the key. Yet many resettlement programs do not have a strong M&E culture. This report examines the added value that M&E can bring to refugee resettlement programs and identifies common obstacles that have kept countries from creating or expanding their M&E operations to date. It then lays out a road map for kickstarting this process—from finding the right “champion” to drive change, to identifying which of a program’s strategic and operational goals to monitor and evaluate, to identifying existing sources of information and designing new data collection tools. These insights are drawn in part from a pilot M&E project conducted by MPI Europe in partnership with resettlement authorities in Ireland, Italy, and the Netherlands under the framework of the European Union Action on Facilitating Resettlement and Refugee Admission through New Knowledge (EU-FRANK) project. This report was written as part of the EU-FRANK project, which is financed by the European Asylum, Migration, and Integration Fund (AMIF) and led by Sweden. Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, and Switzerland are partner countries. More MPI Europe research for the EU-FRANK project can be found on this series page.
Topic:
International Cooperation, Governance, Law, Refugees, Immigrants, Resettlement, Asylum, and Integration
Political Geography:
Europe

19. Dismantling and Reconstructing the U.S. Immigration System: A Catalog of Changes under the Trump Presidency

Author:
Sarah Pierce and Jessica Bolter
Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
Through bold, sweeping changes as well as less-noted technical adjustments, the Trump administration has dramatically reshaped the U.S. immigration system since entering office in January 2017. Now well into its fourth year, the administration has undertaken more than 400 executive actions on immigration, spanning everything from border and interior enforcement, to refugee resettlement and the asylum system, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the immigration courts, and vetting and visa processes. This reports offers a comprehensive catalog, by topic, of those actions, including their dates and the underlying source materials. The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 gave the administration new openings to push forward many of its remaining immigration policy aims. This period has seen bans on travel and a pause on visa issuance for certain groups of foreign nationals and a further closing off of the U.S.-Mexico border that has effectively ended asylum there. Much of the White House's immigration agenda has been realized in the form of interlocking measures, with regulatory, policy, and programmatic changes driving towards shared policy goals. Though these largely administrative actions could, in theory, be undone by a future administration, this layered approach, coupled with the rapid-fire pace of change, makes it likely that the Trump presidency will have long-lasting effects on the U.S. immigration system.
Topic:
Immigration, Refugees, Citizenship, Borders, Donald Trump, and Asylum
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

20. One Year after the U.S.-Mexico Agreement: Reshaping Mexico’s Migration Policies

Author:
Ariel G. Ruiz Soto
Publication Date:
06-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
On June 7, 2019, after months of heightened Central American migration through Mexico to the United States, the Mexican and U.S. governments signed an agreement to work together to manage the migration of Central American asylum seekers and other migrants. This ushered in an intense period of policy and institutional change that is reshaping Mexico’s immigration enforcement and humanitarian protection systems. After being threatened with steep tariffs on Mexican goods, Mexico agreed to step up enforcement efforts, accepted the expansion of the U.S. Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP, also known as Remain in Mexico) along the U.S.-Mexico border, and promised to increase collaboration with the United States to disrupt migrant-smuggling networks. In turn, the United States pledged to expedite the asylum cases of migrants waiting in Mexico under MPP and invest in economic development efforts in southern Mexico and Central America to address the drivers of migration. While the full impact of the deal will likely take years to unfold, this policy brief takes stock of what has changed in the first year since its signing. It charts trends in migrant apprehensions and returns by Mexican authorities, and the volume of asylum applications filed in Mexico. The brief also examines challenges that have intensified during this time, including the precarious conditions many migrants face while waiting in Mexican border communities for their U.S. asylum cases to be heard and the COVID-19 pandemic that hit in early 2020. Looking ahead, the brief highlights opportunities for further policy development.
Topic:
Treaties and Agreements, Immigration, Border Control, Refugees, Asylum, Deportation, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Central America, North America, Mexico, and United States of America