Economics of Immigration

The enforcement of immigration laws is a complex and hotly-debated topic. Learn more about the costs of immigration enforcement and the ways in which the U.S. can enforce our immigration laws humanely and in a manner that ensures due process.

Recent Features

All Economics of Immigration Content

Publication Date: 
August 1, 2004
Foreign-born scientists and engineers (S&Es) have long played a prominent role in U.S. technological and scientific advancement and are a critical part of the science and engineering (S&E)...
Publication Date: 
May 1, 2004
According to a recent National Science Board report, restrictive U.S. visa policies are beginning to close the door to highly skilled foreign professionals who have long helped maintain U.S...
Publication Date: 
February 1, 2004
Foreign-born and foreign-trained professionals play an important role in the delivery of health care in the United States. This report examines the important role of immigrant doctors and nurses –...
Publication Date: 
November 1, 2003
Comparisons of the mostly “minority” foreign-born and mostly “white” native-born populations that fail to account for the socioeconomic impact of ethnicity incorrectly suggest that place of birth,...
Publication Date: 
October 1, 2003
Latinos experience substantial socioeconomic progress across generations compared to both their immigrant forefathers and native Anglos. But this fact is lost in statistical portraits of the Latino...
Publication Date: 
July 1, 2003
Policymakers in states from Iowa to Utah and in cities from Albuquerque to Boston have realized that immigration is a key source of long-term economic vitality, particularly in urban areas...
Publication Date: 
April 1, 2003
Remittances – money immigrants and foreign workers send abroad to their families – exert a key positive influence on the global economy, concludes a new report by the World Bank. The report carries...
Publication Date: 
March 1, 2003
As American troops, including many immigrants, are now engaged in military action in Iraq, the Immigration Policy Center has updated its fact sheet about the role and participation of immigrants in...
Publication Date: 
February 1, 2003
Americans are rightfully proud of our nation's higher education system. Scholars come to the U.S. from all over the world and we have historically educated many of the world's leaders. But the...
Publication Date: 
September 1, 2002
America's current immigration policies are antiquated and fail to recognize the importance of Mexican workers to the national economy. U.S. immigration law must provide ways for Mexican workers to...
April 28, 2017

The fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative has left 1.3 million undocumented immigrant youth in limbo. President Trump has assured DACA recipients that they can “rest...

April 17, 2017

Each year, undocumented immigrants file their tax returns, just like all Americans. They pay federal, state, and local taxes, in addition to income, property, and sales taxes. However, there are...

March 3, 2017

President Trump made many promises on the campaign trail. One of which was to breathe new life into what some see as a stagnant U.S. economy. In fact, there are indications that it was this one...

January 24, 2017

California’s economy is big, and so is the immigrant contribution to it. The state’s economy is the sixth largest in the world, and immigrants provide one-third (or $715 billion) of the state’s...

November 11, 2016

This year on Veterans Day, over 40 naturalization ceremonies will take place and 7,500 veterans, service members, and military spouses will become the newest Americans. While that may seems like a...

October 26, 2016

Fees for immigration transactions will increase by an average of 21 percent beginning on December 23, 2016. Applications or petitions mailed, postmarked, or otherwise filed on or after December 23...

October 17, 2016

The UNHCR estimates that worldwide there were over 65 million refugees, asylum-seekers, and internally displaced people who fled conflict, violence, and human rights violations in 2015. On average...

October 14, 2016

This election season, tax returns have become a major campaign issue. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has refused to release his tax returns and admitted that he has not paid...

October 11, 2016

Each year, the Nobel Foundation awards prizes in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace to the most innovative scientists, researchers, writers, and peace-builders in our...

October 3, 2016

While the federal government is responsible for admitting immigrants to the U.S., immigrants live in states and local communities. And at the local level, immigrants are our neighbors, coworkers,...

February 25, 2021

Over the past year, sweeping orders have banned many non-immigrant visa holders from entering the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic gave many former Trump administration officials the...

October 13, 2020
The American Immigration Council, the Immigration Defense Clinic at Colorado Law, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, submitted a comment in opposition to the Department of Homeland Security proposed rule on the "Collection and Use of Biometrics by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services."
October 1, 2020

The Trump administration is successfully using the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to alter the U.S. system of legal immigration. New government data makes clear that these changes will...

Publication Date: 
September 30, 2020
This report identifies disruptions throughout the immigration system because of the COVID-19 pandemic and makes recommendations for improvements to the federal government’s response.
September 15, 2020
This new rule will increase the total number of people who are required to submit biometric data from 3.9 million currently to 6.07 million—an increase of more than 60%.
July 29, 2020

The American Immigration Council submitted a written statement to the House Committee on Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship for a July 29, 2020 hearing on "Oversight of U....

July 21, 2020
President Trump issued an executive order to prevent undocumented immigrants from being counted as part of the 2020 Census. This policy would unlawfully exclude 10.7 million undocumented immigrants, despite the clear requirement of the 14th Amendment to count “the whole number of persons in each state.”
June 22, 2020
The Trump administration announced a more permanent order that suspends many categories of immigration to the United States and an expanded ban that halts many legal employment-based immigration categories for those outside of the United States.
May 27, 2020
The American Immigration Council's latest report examines major changes to the U.S. immigration system in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the unique challenges the pandemic has created for noncitizens and government agencies.
May 5, 2020
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is currently proposing significant changes to the Affidavit of Support (Form I-864), and related forms I-864A and I-864EZ.

Most Read

  • Publications
  • Blog Posts
  • Past:
  • Trending