Center for Immigration Studies

Is there a Link Between Refugees and U.S. Crime Rates?
When a large number of refugees arrive in a given city, does crime rise in subsequent years? It’s a question obviously relevant to many current debates, both in the United States and in Europe. And one many policymakers are focused on now. To examine this issue, we used refugee resettlement… Read More

Let Those Already Here Give America Their Best Skills, Says Jamaican Immigrant
When Noreen Hartley arrived in Atlanta from Jamaica in 1996, she was fortunate to quickly find work as a call-center supervisor. But the 33-year-old former bank manager wanted to get back into accounting. There was one problem: Every time she applied for accountant jobs, she was told she didn’t have… Read More

Local Tech Companies Say Trump’s Immigration Order Is Bad For Business
As the legal battle over President Trump’s executive order on immigration moves forward in California, more than 100 tech companies — including a few in Massachusetts — have signed a legal brief opposing the travel ban. Fuze, TripAdvisor and Brightcove have all signed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court… Read More

Pioneering Researcher in Electric Cars Questions the Economic Wisdom of Restricting Immigrants
Chinese immigrant Shanjun Li, an associate professor at the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University, has devoted his career to helping improve the American economy — and our environment — through his pioneering work in environmental and energy economics. Li’s research is widely cited by… Read More

Filipino Immigrant is Among Thousands of International Priests Filling America’s Vacant Pulpits
After the 8 a.m. Sunday mass at St. Joseph Church on Staten Island, Father Rizalino Garcia can often be seen dashing to nearby St. Thomas Church to perform a second mass. “Sometimes you have to say mass and run,” he says with a laugh. With two churches, a school and… Read More

Young Immigrant Entrepreneur Has a Light-Bulb Moment
Viktor Klyachko believes that maintaining a healthy business community is essential to progress. “Business is what propels the world forward,” he says. Klyachko is the founder of Green Ignite, a company based in Utica, New York, that provides LED lighting systems to wholesalers throughout the Northeast. Launched in 2013, Green… Read More

Job Development Expert Says Immigrants ‘Absolutely Critical’ to Economic Vitality
“Immigration is critically important,” says Dr. Ioanna Morfessis, an economic development expert who has helped create 200,000 new jobs as the founder of three high-profile American economic development organizations: the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore; the Greater Phoenix Economic Council; and the Montgomery County, Maryland, Department of Economic Development. “Immigration… Read More

The High Cost and Diminishing Returns of a Border Wall
The fact is that building a fortified and impenetrable wall between the United States and Mexico is unnecessary, complicated, ineffective, expensive, and would create a host of additional problems. Read More

Western Michigan University’s Director of the College Assistance Migrant Program is Thankful for President Reagan
From the age of 12, Adriana Cardoso-Reyes spent her summers and weekends picking blueberries alongside her parents and siblings. She was one of the almost 100,000 migrant workers who support Michigan’s $100-billion-a-year food and agriculture industry. Now a trained social worker and the director of Western… Read More

Immigrants Vital to Help Tech Startups Become Multibillion Dollar Companies Here in the U.S.
From the moment he was offered a job at a tech startup in San Mateo, Calif. in 2013, Brazilian-born software engineer Rocir Santiago, worried that U.S. immigration policy would create unnecessary obstacles for his family and career. “The visa process is complex and uncertain. It discourages people from moving to… Read More
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