Migration Policy Institute Podcasts

MPI Co-Founder and Director of MPI’s Migrants, Migration, and Development, and Refugee Policy Programs Kathleen Newland presents OneVietnam Network Co-Founders Uyen Nguyen and James Huy Bao for their vision and dynamism in engaging the Vietnamese diaspora in action for good through the use of new media, arts, culture, and social entrepreneurship. Their initiative is being examined as a model for other diaspora groups. Visit www.migrationpolicy.org/celebrate10theventDownload Standard Podcast

MPI President Demetrious G. Papademetriou presents the Global Visionary Award, to honor Open Society Foundations (OSF) President Aryeh Neier for his career-long dedication to the protection and advancement of rights for the most vulnerable populations throughout the world, including refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants. In the mid-1990s, the foundation created a $50 million fund in the United States to provide naturalization and other services to immigrants and to build capacity among immigrant-rights organizations. And with the creation of OSF’s International Migration Initiative, the foundation is making a major commitment to protecting migrants around the world. Visit www.migrationpolicy.org/celebrate10theventDownload Standard Podcast

On the 25th anniversary of implementation of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, MPI honors Senator Alan Simpson for his leadership and bipartisanship in working to enact a major immigration reform measure with the interests of the country squarely in mind. Their work serves as reminder of a time when Congress was able to set aside its divisions to accomplish big things in the immigration arena. Doris Meissner, Senior Fellow and Director of MPI’s US Immigration Policy Program, discusses with Rep. Mazzoli the implementation of IRCA. Visit www.migrationpolicy.org/celebrate10theventDownload Standard Podcast

This panel discussion in Brussels, upon the official launch of Migration Policy Institute Europe, explores what is driving societal discontent in Europe, the role immigration plays in this, and why there is a growing perception that immigrant integration efforts are failing. The Migration Policy Institute has been active in the European immigration debate for nearly a decade. In recognition of MPI's ever closer engagement with immigration policymakers and stakeholders in Europe, MPI Europe has been established in Brussels as a nonprofit research institute dedicated to the promotion of a better understanding of migration in Europe. Moderating the discussion is Elizabeth Collett, Director, MPI Europe. Panelists are Cecilia Malmström, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs; Charles Clarke, former UK Home Secretary and Member of MPI’s Transatlantic Council on Migration; Demetrios Papademetriou, President of MPI and MPI Europe; and Patrick Simon, Director of Research for Institut National d'Etudes Demographíques (INED). For more information and to sign up for updates, visit MPIEurope.org. Watch the event here. Read MPI’s related reports: Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future By Will Kymlicka The Role of the State in Cultural Integration: Trends, Challenges, and Ways Ahead By Christian Joppke The Centrality of Employment in Immigrant Integration in Europe By Randall Hansen Rethinking National Identity in the Age of Migration By Demetrios G. PapademetriouDownload Standard Podcast

This Migration Policy Institute briefing discusses the release of a major MPI report, Up for Grabs: The Gains and Prospects of First- and Second-Generation Young Adults, which examines the educational and workforce attainment of immigrant-origin young adults between the ages of 16-26, finding significant gains in particular for second-generation Hispanic women when it comes to college enrollment. Moderating the discussion is Margie McHugh, Co-Director of MPI's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy. Report co-authors Michael Fix, MPI Senior Vice President and Director of Studies, and Jeanne Batalova, MPI Policy Analyst, discuss the report findings. Providing comments on the report are Andrew P. Kelly, Research Fellow, Education Policy, American Enterprise Institute, and Raul González, Director of Legislative Affairs, National Council of La Raza (NCLR). Archive of the event video available here.Download Standard Podcast

During this 30-minute presentation, Migration Policy Institute Senior Vice President Michael Fix and Policy Analyst Jeanne Batalova discuss their report, Up for Grabs: The Gains and Prospects of First- and Second-Generation Young Adults, which profiles the population of first- and second-generation young adults in the United States between the ages of 16 and 26. These young adults from immigrant families, numbering 11.3 million, represent one in four people in the United States between the ages of 16-26 and account for half of the growth of the young adult population between 1995 and 2010. This report, done through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, finds substantial generational progress in terms of high school graduation, college enrollment, and ability to earn family-sustaining wages. Second-generation Hispanic women are faring particularly well, with college enrollment rates equal to those of third-generation non-Hispanic white women. However, they are not graduating from college at the same rate or on the same timeline because of family, work, or economic reasons. The report sketches how postsecondary education, workforce development, and language training programs could better meet the needs of this population, which will assume a greater role as the US workforce ages.Download Standard Podcasts

This webinar from the Migration Policy Institute’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy (NCIIP) and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Bridging Refugee Youth 8 Children’s Services (BRYCS) program explores federal requirements for providing interpretation and translation in schools and how select school districts in Minnesota and Colorado have managed these requirements. Under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, schools are required to provide information to parents in a “language they can understand.” In addition to this requirement, Executive Order 13166 makes clear the responsibility of all federally funded programs to uphold Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by ensuring meaningful access to programs and services for individuals regardless of their English proficiency. School districts across the country have implemented these federal requirements in a variety of ways. This is the latest in NCIIP’s language access webinar series exploring the policy and program implementation imperatives for government and community agencies serving Limited English Proficient (LEP) populations. To access audio of previous webinars, click here. To access a toolkit for teachers and school personnel on translation and interpretation requirements developed by BRYCS, please click here. Speakers are: Lyn Morland, Director, Bridging Refugee Youth and Children’s Services, US Conference of Catholic Bishops Laura Gardner, Education Technical Assistance Specialist, Bridging Refugee Youth and Children’s Services, US Conference of Catholic Bishops Salvador Carrera, Director, Multicultural Outreach Office, Denver Public Schools Alejandra Bosch, Translation Services Coordinator, Office of Communications, Marketing and Development, Saint Paul Public Schools The call is moderated by Chhandasi Pandya, Policy Analyst/Program Coordinator, National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, Migration Policy Institute. View the PowerPoint presentation here. Also of interest: LEP Workers 8 Access to Workforce Services: Barriers 8 Prospects under WIA Reauthorization, Taking Limited English Proficient Adults into Account in the Federal Adult Education Funding Formula, and Immigrants and Welfare: The Impact of Welfare Reform on America’s Newcomers Download Standard Podcast

Current negotiations over reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) come at a critical moment for immigrant and Limited English Proficient (LEP) workers. They and their current and future employers have a large stake in these negotiations, given the wide range of labor supply and skill mismatches that employers rely on immigrants to meet across the United States. Further, the predominance of immigrants and their children among new, young, and future US workers and the weak response thus far of the WIA-funded training system to the needs of these increasingly diverse and multilingual workers necessitates a concerted re-examination of the WIA system. The extent to which changes to the WIA system take account of these important demographic and economic trends and address the needs of immigrant-origin and LEP workers in particular will strongly affect the law's ability to support our country's future economic success. There is broad consensus that LEP workers of varying educational backgrounds and levels of English proficiency and vocational skills are underserved by WIA's training services as a result of the law's structure. While community-based organizations have filled some gaps in services for LEP individuals and immigrant workers, the current reauthorization debate presents an opportunity for analysts, workforce services professionals, and community stakeholders to consider how to redesign the WIA system and its investments in these important segments of the US workforce. On this webinar, experts discuss barriers immigrant and LEP individuals face in accessing the WIA system, how a revitalized WIA could address these barriers, and the extent to which the current Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee's WIA reauthorization proposal addresses these barriers. View the PowerPoint presentation here. This webinar is part of Migration Policy Institute's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy (NCIIP) Language Access Webinar Series. Speakers are: Amanda Bergson-Shilcock, Director of Outreach and Program Evaluation, Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians Emma Oppenheim, Manager, Workforce Development Policy Initiatives, National Council of La Raza Gabriela Lemus, Senior Advisor and Director, Office of Public Engagement, US Department of Labor Also of interest: Taking Limited English Proficient Adults into Account in the Federal Adult Education Funding Formula, and Immigrants and Welfare: The Impact of Welfare Reform on America’s NewcomersDownload Standard Podcast

The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) held a conference call to discuss the most significant changes that have occurred in the immigration arena in the decade since the September 11, 2001 attacks. MPI Senior Fellow Doris Meissner, commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service during the 1990s, and Muzaffar Chishti, director of MPI’s office at NYU School of Law, provided analysis on the realignment of the U.S. immigration system – ranging from new enforcement programs and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security to changed visa policies and the rise of state and local actors. Both are co-authors of MPI’s new Fact Sheet, Through the Prism of National Security: Major Immigration Policy and Program Changes in the Decade since 9/11, which details the major immigration policy, budget and organizational changes that have occurred as an outgrowth of 9/11.Download Standard Podcast

Inadequate interpretation services, a lack of relevant translated materials and customer service that is not culturally competent often deter limited English proficient (LEP) individuals from accessing workforce services through the Workforce Investment Act (WIA)-funded One Stop system. This interactive language access webinar, one in a series offered by the Migration Policy Institute's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, examines how New York and Illinois have broken down some of these barriers to proactively engage LEP communities to obtain workforce services. The need to ensure meaningful access to WIA-funded employment and training services for the large share of US low- and middle-skilled LEP workers is urgent, particularly in light of the tough job market and gloomy projections for the speed of recovery from the Great Recession. These featured approaches, which have entailed policy and programmatic fixes, can serve as models as states attempt to meet the workforce needs of their LEP populations and comply with federal requirements to provide meaningful language access in their federally funded programs. Speakers are: Julio Rodriguez, Director of Program Services, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Haeya Yim, Counsel, Division of Immigrant Policies and Affairs, New York Department of Labor Kerry Douglas-Duffy, Workforce Development Program Specialist, Division of Employment and Workforce Solutions, New York Department of Labor Chhandasi Pandya, Policy Analyst, Migration Policy Institute Download the PowerPoint here.Download Standard Podcasts

This Migration Policy Institute webinar discusses labor enforcement laws during the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations and chronicles gaps in labor protection. Donald M. Kerwin, MPI Vice President for Programs and author of MPI’s report, Labor Standards Enforcement and Low-Wage Immigrants: Creating an Effective Enforcement System, argues that enforcement of labor laws should become a higher priority, particularly amid high rates of unemployment and underemployment. He also discusses the view that labor standards enforcement should become a pillar of immigration policymaking and sketches the elements necessary for an effective labor standards enforcement system. The webinar powerpoint is available here.Download Standard Podcast

This Migration Policy Institute event was held to discuss the release of a new Migration Policy Institute book, Migration and the Great Recession: The Transatlantic Experience, which reviews how the financial and economic crisis of the late 2000s marked a sudden and dramatic interruption in international migration trends, and the effects of the economic turmoil on immigrant workers in major immigrant-receiving countries in Europe as well as the United States. Among the questions posed during the discussion: What will be the legacy of the crisis for immigrant workers and their families in coming years? How have the impacts of the recession on immigrant workers themselves, and responses of publics and politicians, differed on both sides of the Atlantic? Speakers are: volume editors Demetrios Papademetriou, Madeleine Sumption, and Aaron Terrazas, of MPI; Chad Stone, Chief Economist, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; and Gallya Lahav, Associate Professor of Political Science, State University of New York at Stony Brook. Watch Event Video Ĥ Order the Book Ĥ View US Powerpoint Ĥ View EU PowerpointDownload Standard Podcast

This panel examines whether there is meaningful opportunity to expand legal counsel for indigent persons in removal proceedings, and what those vehicles may be. It also discusses recommendations to policymakers set forth by different groups for ensuring access to counsel. Session speakers include Geoffrey Heeren, Fellow, Center for Applied Legal Studies, Georgetown University Law Center; Asa Hutchinson, former Undersecretary, US Department of Homeland Security and Partner, The Asa Hutchinson Law Group; and Daniel Olmos, Senior Counsel, Access to Justice Initiative, US Department of Justice. Andrew I. Schoenholtz, Deputy Director of the Georgetown University Institute for the Study of International Migration, moderates the panel. Video for the 8th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference can be found here.Download Standard Podcasts

This panel discusses US Department of Homeland Security’s detention reform efforts, challenges to reform, civil detention standards, alternative detention models, alternatives “to” and alternative “forms” of detention, the treatment of particularly vulnerable populations, and legal challenges to the US detention regime. Session speakers include Michelle Brané, Director, Detention and Asylum Program, Women’s Refugee Commission; Mary Meg McCarthy, Executive Director, National Immigrant Justice Center-A Heartland Alliance Partner; Julie Myers Wood, Former Director, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and President, Immigration and Customs Solutions, LLC; and Margo Schlanger, Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, US Department of Homeland Security. Donald Kerwin, MPI Vice President for Programs, moderates the panel. Video for the 8th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference can be found here. Related research: Immigrant Detention: Can ICE Meet its Legal Imperatives and Case Management Responsibilities? Local Enforcement Response to Illegal ImmigrationDownload Standard Podcast