Back on the Table: U.S. Legalization and the Unauthorized Immigrant Groups that Could Factor in the Debate
The report traces past legalizations and details the range and scope of legalization options that policymakers have, ranging from placing people on a pathway to citizenship, to limited and renewable legal status, or legal protections provided via executive action. The inability to resolve the status of unauthorized immigrants over more than two decades has thwarted any prospects for broader reform of a U.S. immigration system that urgently requires updating. Amid this stasis, Congress has mounted new obstacles that make it more difficult for those who would otherwise have been eligible to legalize to do so, including the three- and ten-year bars on re-entry to the United States.
The report is part of MPI’s Rethinking U.S. Immigration Policy Initiative, launched in 2019. The initiative is generating a big-picture, evidence-driven vision for the role immigration can and should play in America’s future.
Bolter, J., Chishti, M. & Meissner, D. (2021, February). Back on the Table: U.S. Legalization and the Unauthorized Immigrant Groups that Could Factor in the Debate. Migration Policy Institute https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/us-legalization-unauthorized-immigrant-groups