Immigrants and Emigrants

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Addressing Immigration Doesn't End at the Border—Schools Need Help

All children in the United States have a right to a public education, regardless of their immigration status. But schools are not funded or staffed adequately to support a growing student population or to handle sudden surges in enrollment due to large numbers of displaced children arriving at the border.

Julia H. Kaufman @juliahkaufman, Shelly Culbertson @SC_Culbertson

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Supporting Undocumented and Asylum-Seeking Children, L.A. Housing, Veterans: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on educating and supporting undocumented and asylum-seeking children in U.S. schools, what drives America's adversaries to use military forces, and measuring the compounding effects of racism.

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The Public Charge Rule's Likely Hazard to Our Nation's Health During COVID-19

The Public Charge rule makes immigrants who receive Medicaid and other publicly-funded benefits potentially ineligible for green cards, and, in some cases, subjects them to deportation. Fear and reluctance to seek assistance among immigrants is likely to worsen during the COVID-19 epidemic.

Kathryn Pitkin Derose

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Boris Johnson, Teacher Training, Youth Arrests: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on Boris Johnson's Brexit challenge, how educators feel about their training programs, a spike in youth arrests, and more.

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What Border Walls Can and Cannot Accomplish

States have been building walls since ancient times. Some were arguably quite successful, others less so. At the core of prudent policy lies a basic question: What can walls realistically accomplish?

Raphael S. Cohen

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In Refugee Vetting, How Good Is Good Enough?

A security policy that depends too heavily on vetting, and expects it to be foolproof, is likely to fall short. A better security standard the administration could consider is not whether vetting failures ever occur, but rather whether they pose an acceptable risk to the United States.

Ian Mitch @IanSMitch

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A Threat to Immigrant Health Care with Potential Consequences for All

The proposed changes to the “public charge” rule could jeopardize decades of progress towards improved health care access and health for immigrants and U.S. citizens. Negative effects may include worse health outcomes, increased use of emergency rooms, and increased prevalence of communicable diseases.

Kathryn Pitkin Derose

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Making Education a Reality for All Children in Europe

Access to education is a fundamental children's right in the EU and is guaranteed under a variety of legal and policy frameworks. Despite many approaches and initiatives adopted across the EU, a number of challenges remain concerning the development of effective long-term education measures for migrant children.

Barbara Janta, Milda Butkute

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Restoring Asylum Protections for Victims of Domestic Violence

Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded asylum protections earlier this month for victims of domestic violence. The decision and the supporting analysis goes against decades of research on violence against women. Congress could reverse the decision by amending the asylum law.

Douglas C. Ligor @DougLigor, Lisa H. Jaycox

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Professional Expectations, Families and Brexit Shape Future for UK International Researchers

Mobility has become an even higher priority for researchers since the results of the UK’s EU referendum, Brexit. To continue to attract and keep top talent, the UK needs to understand how and why researchers move between countries.

Susan Guthrie, Catherine A. Lichten

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Why Being a Migrant Is Not the Biggest Barrier to Education in Europe

Migrant students tend to have lower performance and are more likely to leave school early. But factors other than migrant status, such as language barriers, can explain these differences.

Barbara Janta, Emma Harte

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Why Re-Establishing Border Controls in Europe Could Come at a High Cost

Reversing the Schengen agreement would come at a high economic cost, while undoing many of the positive social and political developments of the past decade.

Marco Hafner, Jirka Taylor

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Integrating STEM Learning in Early Childhood Education

Young children can understand concepts in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and early development of STEM skills seems to support learning later in life. But an effective teaching system is needed before STEM learning can be fully integrated into early childhood education.

Rafiq Dossani

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Should Undocumented Immigrant Youth Pay In-State Tuition to Attend College?

Undocumented children are entitled to free primary and secondary public education everywhere in the United States, regardless of their legal status. But when they finish high school, their options for college vary depending on the state in which they live.

Robert Bozick

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Prior Removal and Recidivism

President Obama's executive action on immigration includes a new program that targets immigration enforcement at those arrested for more serious offenses and those deemed to be risks to national security. Research shows that unauthorized immigrants who have been previously deported are more likely to be rearrested after jail release, so local public safety interests and federal immigration enforcement priorities may well align around immigrants with a record of prior removal.

Laura J. Hickman, Jennifer S. Wong, et al.

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A Summer Reading List for Congress

No matter how policymakers spend their break—meeting with home-state constituents, traveling abroad with congressional delegations, or spending time with family—this summer reading list contains policy ideas that can help them hit the ground running when they return.

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With Child Migrants Set to Become Students, Educators Must Prepare

Between 70,000 and 90,000 unaccompanied children are expected to cross the U.S.-Mexico border by year's end. Lost in an intensifying debate over U.S. immigration policy is the possibility that this wave will spill from shelters to schools. To best respond to this reality, policymakers and educators should consider what research says about educating migrant children.

Gabriella C. Gonzalez, Robert Bozick

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Potential Path to Citizenship for Undocumented Immigrants Takes Shape

A group of U.S. Senators this week unveiled a proposal to reform the nation's immigration laws, outlining a path to citizenship for most of the nation's estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants and endorsing an increase of certain types of foreign-born workers.