This briefing will cover two competing visions of US immigration policy, one characterized by legal immigration reform and the other by mass deportation policies and a proposed 2,000 mile border wall. These visions are analyzed in three recent papers by Donald Kerwin and Robert Warren of the Center for Migration Studies. The papers cover the consequences of mass deportation policies on US families and critique the idea of a 2,000 mile border wall. The briefing will also describe a vision of reform set forth in a paper released today titled “National Interests and Common Ground in the US Immigration Debate: How to Legalize the US Immigration System and Permanently Reduce Its Undocumented Population.” This paper outlines the elements of a legal immigration system that can serve the interests and values that the United States seeks to advance through this system. The paper also offers a sweeping, historical analysis of how the US undocumented population emerged, why it has grown and contracted, and how estimates of its size have been politically exploited. It argues that effective legal immigration policies will be essential to establishing an enforcement system that upholds US ideals and values, and advances the nation’s core interests. It includes a series of policy recommendations to reform the legal immigration system and substantially decrease the undocumented population.

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