CENTER FOR MIGRATION STUDIES OF NEW YORK

CMS’s work on refugee protection addresses a series of issues that has been of consuming international, state, and local policy interest. These include: addressing the multiple crises driving record levels of forced displacement; identifying long-term solutions for refugees and their host communities; the scope of international law; protection of refugee-like populations that may not meet the 1951 Convention’s definition of “refugee”; legal and policy barriers to protection; and the debates and struggles of host communities to accommodate the uprooted. CMS has also taken a person-centered approach to this work, regularly engaging refugees and asylum-seekers in its processes and events. In 2014 and 2015, CMS coordinated a series of meetings and events on strengthening the US refugee protection system which led to a special edition of its Journal on Migration and Human Security (JMHS), commemorating the 35th anniversary of the Refugee Act of 1980. The papers in this collection exhaustively documented, critiqued, and proposed improvements to the US refugee protection system.

Building on this initiative, in 2016, CMS organized a high-level conference – with support from the MacArthur Foundation – on rethinking and strengthening the global system of refugee protection. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), global forced displacement reached historic levels in 2017, with 68.5 million displaced, including 40 million internally displaced persons, 25.4 million refugees, and 3.1 million asylum seekers. Moreover, many of the large refugee-producing conditions and crises have shown few signs of abating. The CMS project was closely aligned with the UN Summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants on September 19, 2016. CMS also hosted a listening session with refugees for the Special Adviser to the Summit, Karen AbuZayd, and organized a public event in Washington, DC with US and UN officials on Syrian and Iraqi refugees. In addition, CMS commissioned a unique series of expert papers designed to lift up new research, create a strong evidence-base for reform, and present new and promising policy ideas that will survive the two summits. In March 2018, it released a special JMHS edition based on these papers titled, “Strengthening the Global Refugee Protection System.” It rolled out in a series of events and briefings, designed to inform the development of the Global Compact on Refugees.

CMS also regularly produces reports and blogs on refugee issues, including a report on a fact-finding trip to Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Greece; a study on returnees to the Northern Triangle states of Central America; a first-hand report on the Venezuelan refugee crisis; and an extensive analysis released in July, 2018 on the US refugee resettlement program. CMS has also regularly reported on attacks on the US refugee protection system, including asylum and temporary protection, by the Trump administration. This work will continue into the foreseeable future.

The Catholic Immigrant Integration Initiative examines whether Catholic institutions have maintained their special connection to immigrant communities in the United States and how they can increase and improve their work on immigrant integration, well-being and empowerment. The initiative studies the work of Catholic and other faith-based institutions with immigrants. It also documents and disseminates promising integration programs and practices in parishes, elementary schools, universities, the workplace, immigrant service networks, charities, hospitals, and other institutions and sectors. Its overall goal is to support and expand a growing network of Catholic institutions that are implementing successful integration models within and across sectors.

Virtually all of the Catholic Church’s signature institutions—its parishes, schools, universities, hospitals, charities, fraternal and sororal groups, labor centers and others—arose in response to the needs of past waves of immigrants and their progeny. While the Catholic Church’s work with immigrants remains robust, its US institutions have not fully pivoted to meet the needs and incorporate the gifts of the nation’s record number of immigrants and their children. Put differently, immigrant integration in the Catholic sense—of promoting communion between natives and newcomers, development of “each” person and the “whole” person, and building a better society through the evangelization of culture—has not yet become a unifying institutional priority.

Catholic agencies can play a vital role in fostering civic participation, improving educational outcomes and promoting the socio-economic attainment of immigrants and their families. On the other hand, Catholic institutions can be and, in fact, are being renewed and revitalized by the gifts, contributions and leadership of immigrants, particularly youth. This process should expand and accelerate.

The Catholic Immigrant Integration Project is guided by a national advisory council comprised of more than 30 representatives from national and local service-delivery networks; universities and school systems; pastoral, parish-based and ethnic ministries; and immigrant community groups. This work has received a substantial boost from Pope Francis’ vision, teaching and frequent statements on immigrants and integration at https://cmsny.org/wp-content/uploads/JFI-Kerwin-11.17.15.pdf.

Since 2014, the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) has published reports, articles, and papers devoted to reform of the US immigration and refugee protection systems. Each publication concludes with policy recommendations – legislative, administrative, and programmatic – directed at federal, state, local and non-governmental organizations. These papers can serve as a valuable resource to public officials, policy influencers, and advocates for more effective, inclusive, and rights-respecting immigration and refugee policies. These papers cover:

The national interests served by immigration and refugee protection.
Citizenship and immigrant integration.
Migration management and governance.
Family-based immigration.
US residents without status, including those brought to the US as children.
The US refugee resettlement program.
Statelessness.
Asylum.
Temporary protection.
Central American migration, including of unaccompanied children.
US enforcement and border enforcement policies.
Immigrant detention.
Legal representation, due process and the rule of law.
Immigrants and public safety.
Public charge grounds of inadmissibility.
Immigrant laborers, including essential workers, and labor standards enforcement.

An indexed summary of select papers can be found at https://cmsny.org/publications/immigration-recommendations-biden/. Many of these papers were originally published in special collections of CMS’s Journal on Migration and Human Security (JMHS), which cover the US immigration system, immigration enforcement, refugee protection, and a collection honoring former Department of Justice official Juan Osuna on access to justice, the rule of law, and due process. These collections also include articles that analyze the provisions of comprehensive bills, and the causes of migration. Many of the papers profile particular populations of US noncitizens. The papers typically illustrate the long tenure, family ties, work, and other contributions of these groups to US society.

Most recently, CMS has published a report in collaboration with the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility that sets forth 40 administrative actions that the new administration can take to strengthen and revitalize the US immigration and refugee protection systems. It has also published an exhaustive study and report, in collaboration with Refugee Council USA, on rebuilding and strengthening the US refugee resettlement system.

All of these sources seek to outline a flexible, secure, and evidence-based immigration system that would serve the nation’s interests, reflect its liberal democratic ideals, meet its international commitments, and maximize the benefits from talented, hardworking immigrants from throughout the world. It will soon initiate a series of interviews and conversations with select authors on their policy recommendations and what they see as opportunities and challenges to achieving them.

This CMS webpage seeks to provide real-time updates and a record of migration-related developments and policies over the course of the crisis. COVID-19 and its disastrous economic fall-out have decimated migrant, refugee, and other vulnerable populations, and have led to an extraordinary proliferation of restrictions on mobility. The webpage approaches these issues from diverse perspectives.

The US Policy Developments section covers issues, such as the:
- Closure of US borders to asylum-seekers, unaccompanied migrant children, and “non-essential” travelers.
- Suspension of refugee resettlement and the issuance of visas based on family ties and employment.
- The newly implemented “public charge” rule, which serves as a disincentive to immigrants and their families to access public benefits and medical care.
- Federal stimulus and relief legislation that excludes and ignores the needs of undocumented immigrants and “mixed-status” families.

The State and Local Developments section – developed in collaboration with the University of Southern California’s Price School of Public Policy – reports on policy actions by states, counties and cities that have a specific impact on the foreign born and their families. Across the country, jurisdictions with sizable foreign-born populations are taking steps to provide emergency economic relief and access to health care to immigrants excluded from federal benefits.

Global Refugee Developments recounts the diverse contributions of refugees to the pandemic response, the suspension of resettlement, the challenges faced by refugees in camps and urban settings, where social distancing is impossible and health care inadequate; and, the attempt by some to return to dangerous conditions in their home countries.

The Policy Analysis and Research section offers:
- Original CMS research on US immigrant essential workers, by state and status.
- An extensive analysis (updated weekly) of US detention development during the pandemic, and the spread of COVID within and beyond the US detention system.
- Essays on Venezuelan migrants seeking to return home, migrants shelters in Mexico during the pandemic, and the impact of US migration-related COVID-19 policies on communities in Guatemala.
- An analysis of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, and other legislation.
- Short “dispatches” from New York and other affected communities, struggling to fight the pandemic.
- CMS’s Webinars cover US essential workers, inclusive local community responses to immigrants, the conditions facing immigrant communities in Louisiana and Mississippi, and immigrant detention in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama during the crisis. The page also includes links to CMS’s weekly digest on international migration issues, Migration Update. Many of the Update’s editions since March 2020 have been devoted exclusively to COVID-19 migration-related developments.

A few key themes emerge from this work. The virus does not honor borders, distinguish between people based on immigration status, or diminish the need for protection of refugees, children, families, or irregular migrants. Neither can efforts to stem the pandemic. Politically driven, nativist policies that seek to benefit one country over another will exacerbate an already calamitous situation. As two infectious disease experts told the New Yorker magazine: “‘A disease anywhere is a disease everywhere’” and “‘There’s no point just protecting your own turf.’” Globalized diseases require a coordinated global response, rooted in solidarity and facts. They also require nations to honor their domestic and international protection obligations. Mobility needs to be “secured” through sensible restrictions, but also through a commitment to the rule of law and to the protection of those who need to migrate. Migration must be managed, but in a way that “respects international human rights and refugee protection standards.”

Similarly, domestic policies that exclude or ignore select groups will exacerbate social inequalities and tensions at a time that demands a unified response. An effective response must embrace the entire community, particularly those most at risk. More than ever, nations and local communities should treat their vulnerable residents – including immigrants and refugees – as full participants in their communities, and not as disposable.

In its Climate-Induced Migration Initiative, CMS seeks to explore the connection between climate change and migration, provide analysis of international efforts to address climate-induced migration, and share policy ideas that address the challenges of communities most affected by environmental degradation.