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Immigrants and Emigrants

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Countries throughout the world are affected by the influx of immigrants and the outflow of emigrants. RAND research examines a wide variety of issues relating to these populations, including migrant labor; the demands that immigrants place on transportation, education, and other public services; and growing intolerance to immigration within Western countries.

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
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

Explore Immigrants and Emigrants

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
Report
Educating Newcomers: A Research-Practice Conversation
RAND researchers highlight findings from a recent study that estimates the number of children and youth from Central America and Mexico crossing the Southwest border of the United States from 2017 to 2019, as well as findings on policies and practice from two case study school districts in Louisiana and California.
Aug 4, 2022
Report
Expanding Insurance Coverage to Undocumented Immigrants in Connecticut
Removing Connecticut's immigration status requirements for Medicaid and individual market subsidy eligibility would increase health care coverage among certain immigrant populations. At the same time, it would not substantially affect health insurance costs for other Connecticut residents.
Jun 7, 2022
Report
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
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
Supporting Undocumented and Asylum-Seeking Children, L.A. Housing, Veterans: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on educating and supporting undocumented and asylum-seeking children in U.S. schools, what drives America's adversaries to use military forces, and measuring the compounding effects of racism.
Oct 1, 2021
News Release
Surges in Undocumented and Asylum-Seeking Children Prompt Need for Better K–12 Policies
491,000 children from Mexico and the Northern Triangle (Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador) arrived in the United States between fiscal years 2017 and 2019 and remained with unresolved immigration statuses. Of these, 321,000 were enrolled in U.S. K–12 public schools as of March 2020. About 75% settled in California, Texas, Florida, New York, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Georgia, North Carolina, and Louisiana.
Sep 30, 2021
Research Brief
Surges in Undocumented and Asylum-Seeking Children Prompt Need for Better K–12 Policies
Growing numbers of children from Central America and Mexico are arriving in the United States. As of March 2020, 321,000 undocumented and asylum-seeking children were enrolled in public schools. How are the schools managing, and what could be done to help them better prepare to assist these students?
Sep 30, 2021
Report
Educating Newcomers: K–12 Public Schooling for Undocumented and Asylum-Seeking Children in the United States
This report models numbers of undocumented and asylum-seeking children crossing the U.S. southwest border, reviews the federal and state policy landscapes for their education, and provides case studies of how schools are managing education for them.
Sep 30, 2021
Journal Article
Association of Scheduled vs Emergency-Only Dialysis With Health Outcomes and Costs in Undocumented Immigrants With End-stage Renal Disease
This article examines the association of scheduled vs emergency-only hemodialysis with health care outcomes and costs in undocumented immigrants with end-stage renal disease.
Nov 17, 2020
Journal Article
Healthcare Utilization Among Migrants to the UK: Cross-Sectional Analysis of Two National Surveys
Researchers explored health service utilization among migrants to the UK, adjusting for age, sex, long-term health conditions and time since moving to the UK. The study found that healthcare use was lower among migrants than the UK-born population.
Apr 1, 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
Blog
Boris Johnson, Teacher Training, Youth Arrests: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on Boris Johnson's Brexit challenge, how educators feel about their training programs, a spike in youth arrests, and more.
Jul 26, 2019
Commentary
What Border Walls Can and Cannot Accomplish
States have been building walls since ancient times. Some were arguably quite successful, others less so. At the core of prudent policy lies a basic question: What can walls realistically accomplish?
Jan 8, 2019
Journal Article
Challenges to the Integration of Syrian Refugees
In this study, we provide an overview of the situation of Syrian refugees and other non-citizens living in host countries. We explored the cases of Turkey, Germany, the United Kingdom, Greece, Italy, Canada and Australia.
Dec 18, 2018
Commentary
In Refugee Vetting, How Good Is Good Enough?
A security policy that depends too heavily on vetting, and expects it to be foolproof, is likely to fall short. A better security standard the administration could consider is not whether vetting failures ever occur, but rather whether they pose an acceptable risk to the United States.
Nov 1, 2018
Commentary
A Threat to Immigrant Health Care with Potential Consequences for All
The proposed changes to the “public charge” rule could jeopardize decades of progress towards improved health care access and health for immigrants and U.S. citizens. Negative effects may include worse health outcomes, increased use of emergency rooms, and increased prevalence of communicable diseases.
Oct 12, 2018
Commentary
Making Education a Reality for All Children in Europe
Access to education is a fundamental children's right in the EU and is guaranteed under a variety of legal and policy frameworks. Despite many approaches and initiatives adopted across the EU, a number of challenges remain concerning the development of effective long-term education measures for migrant children.
Oct 4, 2018

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RAND Topic:
Immigrants and Emigrants

Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Alejandra Lopez

Ph.D. Student, Pardee RAND Graduate School, and Assistant Policy Researcher, RAND

Alejandra Lopez is a Ph.D. student in the Community-Partnered Policy and Action stream at Pardee RAND Graduate School and an assistant policy analyst at RAND. She has an M.S. in mathematics from Purdue University, a B.S. in mathematics from Arizona State University, and an A.S. from Mesa…
Lucy B. Schulson

Associate Physician Policy Researcher

Lucy Schulson is an associate physician policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. She is also an assistant professor of medicine at Boston University and a practicing board-certified internist at Boston Medical Center with a clinical focus on primary care for immigrant populations. Her research…

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