Immigration Policy

The expiration of a pandemic-era immigration policy has made headlines in recent weeks. The policy, invoked in March 2020 under Title 42 of the U.S. code, allowed officials to quickly turn away migrants from the border. What are the potential effects of this policy coming to an end? What accounts for the increase in migrants seeking asylum in recent years? And what broader questions about immigration policy remain unanswered? RAND experts Douglas Ligor and Shelly Culbertson answer these questions and more in a special episode of the Policy Currents podcast. Both emphasized the need for comprehensive solutions to address this complex policy challenge, considering the varied reasons—poverty, violence, climate change—that people flee their homes for the United States. “A key risk policymakers face is thinking that border security and border policies alone are going to address the migration pressures,” said Culbertson. “They won’t.”