Meet the Haven Asylum Lab + Monday Morning Migration Roundup

Let's kick this week off with some news and updates, including upcoming immigration workshops, David Bier's Green Card Game goes public, MPI video now available, and Americas Migration Brief.

I was delighted to spend the latter part of last week at the Haven Lab in Canada, a new project from the brilliant minds of Alison Mountz and Kira Williams. The lab presents migration scholars—and all of us, really—with an opportunity to think through questions of how we preserve, share, and dig deeper into migration data that we construct over the course of our research.

The two-day workshop brought together a brilliant, eclectic, and passionate group of migration specialists, including representatives of local resettlement agencies, recognized scholars, Canadian government officials (yes, they actually seem to like working with academics there!), and graduate students. I learned so much and I’m feeling exuberant about the future of this project. This is one project you should keep an eye on.

I had a 28-hour travel delay on my way back from Toronto this weekend during which I wrote two additional essays about recent litigation over the Biden administration’s asylum policies. If you haven’t read those, here they are:

• Messy Numbers in Asylum Ban Ruling Add Confusion, Reflect Deeper Questions about Migrant Protection and the Use of Data in Law

• Will CBP One Survive Escalating Court Battles?

Let’s get into some updates at the start of the week.

PS: Did I miss anything below? Let me know if the comments if I should be aware of anything that should be included in the next announcements post.

“Abuses at the U.S.-Mexican Border: How To Address Failures and Protect Rights” - August 2

The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and Kino Border Initiative (KBI) are hosting a session this Wednesday at 2:00 pm on human rights abuses at the U.S.-Mexico border. The incomparable Adam Isaacson will be speaking, as will two staff members of the KBI. I had the good fortune of spending a day with the Kino Border Initiative in December and I left extraordinarily impressed with the work they do and the level of organization and professionalism they bring to their work. No doubt this will be worth your time.

20th Annual Immigration Law & Policy Conference - September 18

This year's Immigration Law and Policy Conference is coming up in September. The conference is organized by the Migration Policy Institute, Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., and the Georgetown University Law Center, and it will be a hybrid event on September 18.

I attended the conference last year and learned a lot. The attendees are a mix of policy folks, reporters, NGO staff, and academics. If you’re in the DC area and in the immigration world, I would recommend it. It’s not particularly critical or research-based, but it does a good job of representing the most current policy orientation and, how shall I say it, “tone” of the center-ish Democratic migration community.

The schedule is not up yet, nor is registration. But the save the data has been out for a few weeks and I’m sure registration will open soon.

Straining Under Backlog - Video Now Available

I mentioned the MPI workshop “Straining under the Backlog: Fixing a U.S. Immigration Court System in Crisis” two weeks ago or so. The video for that discussion is now available online and totally worth watching (and bookmarking for reference) if you couldn’t make the live session.

Green Card Game Goes Public

David Bier from the CATO Institute has been working on a very detailed interactive “green card game” that I had the chance to test drive a few weeks ago. I was impressed with it! The game allows you to choose certain key immigration characteristics such as nationality, family relationships, and profession. Then you have to try to navigate the US immigration system based on those characteristics. I would recommend going through it at least three times to see how different factors influence your outcomes. Not only is this helpful for people unfamiliar with the green card process, but is also a powerful teaching tool that would work well in high school and college classrooms.

Recommended Reading: Americas Migration Brief

If you’re not familiar with Jordi Amaral’s Americas Migration Brief, I suggest checking it out. Jordi does a terrific job of pulling together key immigration news throughout the hemisphere, including a lot of information that simply doesn’t get reported on in the U.S. media. He also organizes it in a clearly structured way that makes it easily “skimmable”, so if you’re only interested in, say, what’s going on in Mexico or Colombia, you’ll find it easily. I know Jordi and I share a vision for writing regularly because we both care deeply about trying to raise the quality of the immigration conversation—which is why his work comes with only the highest of recommendations from me. Have a look at Jordi’s most recent update:

Americas Migration Brief - July 31, 2023

Peabody Library in Baltimore

This is neither here nor there, but I was finally able to visit the magnificent Peabody Library in Baltimore this weekend. Here are some photos of the most beautiful library you might have never heard about. Stunning, isn’t it!?

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