Skip to page content

Immigration and Emigration

Featured

Commentary
Addressing Climate Migration
As the effects of climate change increase in scope and severity, more people will relocate to preserve or enhance their lives and livelihoods. A review of how six countries are managing climate mobility provides options for policymakers considering the needs of climate migrants and their host communities.
Dec 7, 2021
Commentary
Immigrant Location Policies Can Be Done Right, but That Isn't Happening Right Now
Sudden influxes of migrants across the southwest U.S. border are not new, but they are also increasing. Immigration relocation policies are likely one of the best ways to address migrant surges if done in an organized, humane, and thoughtful way.
Jan 19, 2023

Explore Immigration and Emigration

Report
Independent Assessment of the ICE Body-Worn Camera Pilot Program
This report summarizes the findings from a mixed-methods analysis of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pilot program of body-worn cameras for personnel assigned to Homeland Security Investigations and Enforcement and Removal Operations.
Nov 21, 2023
Journal Article
Migration Narratives in Northern Central America: How Competing Stories Shape Policy and Public Opinion in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador
This report identifies and compares migration narratives within El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to understand how they influence critical policy debates and decisions in the region.
Aug 25, 2023
Commentary
Escaping Afghanistan
As of April 2023, about 152,000 Special Immigrant Visa applicants remain trapped in Afghanistan. Despite many recommendations and bipartisan support for reforming the program, only minor tweaks have been made. Meanwhile, the dangerously slow process has become practically a death sentence.
Aug 14, 2023
Report
Language, Labels, and the DHS Lexicon: Analysis to Support a More-Inclusive Lexicon for Securing the Homeland
The authors analyze U.S. Department of Homeland Security documentation, processes, and procedures and then identify ways to improve them and to create an organizational culture that supports the lasting implementation of more-inclusive terminology.
Jun 19, 2023
Blog
Immigration Policy, the Black-White Wealth Gap, ChatGPT: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on the challenges facing U.S. immigration policy, what it would take to close America's Black-white wealth gap, risks and opportunities associated with artificial intelligence, more.
May 26, 2023
Blog
Avoiding a Long War in Ukraine, Gun Violence, Migrant Surges: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on how the United States can help avoid a long war in Ukraine, responding to the gun violence crisis, limits on teachers’ instruction, and more.
Jan 27, 2023
Commentary
Prospects for Bipartisanship in a Divided Country
Political polarization affects democracy and discourse about public policy. But a series of workshops with diverse stakeholders discussing sensitive policy issues found that Americans from different demographic, economic, political, professional, and social backgrounds can reach consensus.
Jan 19, 2023
Commentary
Advancing Global Citizenship in America
Concerted international action is required to address climate change and sustainability, pandemics, global security, and economic growth. But such action requires a sense of common destiny and shared responsibility among people across nations. What are Americans' attitudes toward global issues, and what could encourage them to become citizens of the world?
Mar 24, 2022
Brochure
Immigration Policy and Border Security
A collection of RAND's interdisciplinary work on immigration and on managing the U.S. border.
Nov 30, 2021
Blog
North Korea, Sexual Violence in the U.S. Military, America's Labor Shortage: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on dealing with a nuclear North Korea, preventing sexual violence in the military, supporting immigrant children in U.S. schools, and more.
Nov 5, 2021
Commentary
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.
Nov 1, 2021
Journal Article
How We Talk About Migration: The Link Between Migration Narratives, Policy, and Power
This report analyzes how narratives about migration contribute to political discourse in five countries.
Oct 22, 2021
Commentary
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.
Apr 6, 2020
Journal Article
Measuring Labour Mobility and Migration Using Big Data: Exploring the Potential of Social-Media Data for Measuring EU Mobility Flows and Stocks of EU Movers
Researchers investigated the use of social media data to offer real-time estimates that will serve as early warnings about changes in EU mobility. The team successfully used the data to apply a working model for measuring stocks of EU migrants.
Dec 12, 2019
Dissertation
Three Essays on Minority and Immigrant Outcomes in a New Era of Immigration Enforcement: Evidence from Los Angeles
Seeks to disentangle the structural factors that affect levels of economic and social integration of minority and immigrant populations.
Sep 13, 2019
Commentary
Common Sense Solutions to the Border Crisis
After years of declines, apprehensions of undocumented immigrants at the U.S.–Mexico border are set for their largest year-on-year increase in history. There is, in fact, a humanitarian crisis on the border. How did this come about? More importantly, what can be done to address it?
May 2, 2019
News Release
Human Smuggling Via Central America Generates Hundreds of Millions of Dollars, but Transnational Criminal Groups May ...
The smuggling of unlawful migrants from the Northern Triangle region of Central America—Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador—to the United States generated between $200 million and $2.3 billion for human smugglers in 2017. The wide range reflects uncertainty about the number of migrants that travel northward, their use of smugglers and the fees they pay.
Apr 22, 2019
Research Brief
Human Smuggling Operations from Central America to the United States
Smuggling unlawful migrants from Central America to the United States generated between $200 million and $2.3 billion for human smugglers in 2017. The wide range reflects uncertainty about the number of migrants, their use of smugglers, and the fees they pay. Transnational criminal organizations are only one type of actor involved.
Apr 22, 2019

1
2
3
4
5
6
Next

RAND Topic:
Immigration and Emigration

Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Lynn A. Karoly

Senior Economist

Lynn Karoly (she/her) is a senior economist at RAND and a professor of policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Her research has examined human capital investments, social welfare policy, child and family well-being, and labor markets. Much of her recent child policy research has…
Shelly Culbertson

Director, Infrastructure, Immigration, & Security Operations Program, RAND Homeland Security Research Division

Shelly Culbertson is a senior policy researcher, a professor of policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School, and the director of the Infrastructure, Immigration, & Security Operations Program (IISO), part of the RAND Homeland Security Research Division. IISO supports eight organizations…

Explore Our People »