Center for Migration Studies

Center for Migration Studies
Name	Center for Migration Studies
Formation	1964
Type	Research institute
Headquarters	New York City
Leader title	Executive Director
Region served	United States, global

Contents

Center for Migration Studies.

The Center for Migration Studies is a research institute focused on migration, diaspora, and refugee issues. It engages with policy debates, humanitarian networks, and academic forums linking United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, International Organization for Migration, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, U.S. Department of State, World Bank.

History

Founded in 1964, the organization emerged amid debates following the Cold War, United States Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, Second Vatican Council and regional crises such as the Vietnam War and Cuban Missile Crisis. Early collaborations included partnerships with American Catholic Historical Association, Brookings Institution, Migration Policy Institute and local groups in New York City, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic. Over decades it responded to events including the Mariel boatlift, Haitian refugee crisis, Balkan Wars, Rwandan Genocide, Syrian Civil War and the Venezuelan refugee crisis by producing analyses used by United Nations, U.S. Congress, European Commission and faith-based networks like Caritas Internationalis.

The Center advances research on migration, refugees, and human mobility while engaging with stakeholders such as United Nations General Assembly, United States Congress, European Parliament, Organization of American States, Inter-American Development Bank and civil society actors like Jesuit Refugee Service, International Rescue Committee, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International. Activities include scholarly conferences with universities like Columbia University, Fordham University, Georgetown University, New York University, policy briefings for bodies such as House Committee on Homeland Security, Senate Judiciary Committee, and technical assistance for agencies including U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The Center publishes peer-reviewed studies, policy briefs, and datasets used in scholarship across institutions such as Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, University of Oxford, London School of Economics and cited by outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Reuters and journals including International Migration Review, Journal of Refugee Studies, Population and Development Review. Its work analyzes migration flows related to crises like Hurricane Maria, 2010 Haiti earthquake, Arab Spring, Iraq War, Afghanistan conflict, and demographics tied to countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba, Philippines, India, China, Syria, Iraq, Somalia.

The Center provides training and curricula for practitioners alongside partners like American Bar Association, National Immigration Forum, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, and academic programs at CUNY Graduate Center, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Yale Law School. Courses cover asylum procedures referenced in 1951 Refugee Convention, 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, detention practices in contexts like Australia's immigration detention, and return policies exemplified by the Dublin Regulation, often taught to staff from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Justice, and international NGOs.

The Center engages in advocacy with coalitions including Welcome.US, Refugees International, State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, European Council on Refugees and Exiles, Latin American Council of Social Sciences and testifies before bodies such as U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, United Nations Human Rights Council, and participates in consultative status with United Nations Economic and Social Council. Policy interventions address regional instruments like Migration Governance Framework, bilateral accords such as U.S.–Mexico–Canada Agreement, resettlement mechanisms used by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and humanitarian responses coordinated with Médecins Sans Frontières and International Committee of the Red Cross.

Notable projects include archival initiatives documenting migrations in the Caribbean and Latin America used by researchers at Rutgers University, Brown University, Duke University, datasets on refugee admissions referenced by Migration Policy Institute and policy reports informing legislation and litigation involving American Civil Liberties Union, National Immigration Law Center, Center for Constitutional Rights, and casework in courts including the U.S. Supreme Court, Second Circuit Court of Appeals and Supreme Court of Canada. Its impact is evident in collaborations on resettlement with International Organization for Migration, humanitarian planning with United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and scholarly citations across publications from Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and media coverage in BBC News and Associated Press.

Category:Research institutes