For answers to the most common questions about U.S. immigration, see our Quick Statistics on U.S. immigration. For more context, search the , which contains more than 1,300 studies from respected research institutions across the United States. One such respected institution is the Institute for Immigration Research, a joint venture between The Immigrant Learning Center and George Mason University. If you’re looking for some more specific data, you can request a free, . If you want to stay updated on The Immigrant Learning Center’s research, webinars and other projects, sign up for our newsletter.
Recent Research
The Immigrant Learning Center Public Education Institute has published the research report Immigrant Essential Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic. The report reveals the critical contributions of immigrant essential workers and their impact on all Americans. It also shares the obstacles that put foreign-born workers at unnecessary risk and prevented them from making their full contribution. The project offers strategies that would benefit all Americans in a future public health crisis. You can download the executive summary and the report here.
Featured Research from The ILC Immigration Research Library
Projections Show Increasing Future Immigration Grows the U.S. Competitive Advantage
According to researchers at George Mason University in a study commissioned by fwd.us, immigration policy can be used as a tool to maintain the position of the U.S. as the world’s largest economy. The authors argue that if the U.S. doubled its immigration levels now, GDP could reach $47 trillion by 2050, $10 trillion more than if current immigration trends are maintained and $18 trillion more than if immigration were stopped.
Institute for Immigration Research
The Institute for Immigration Research (IIR), a joint venture between The Immigrant Learning Center and George Mason University, produces interdisciplinary research on immigrants and immigration to the United States. Projects include studying Immigrant Nobel Prize winners, mapping immigrant populations, surveys of high-skilled immigrant professionals, Twitter analyses of the immigration discussion and more. The IIR also offers free customized datasheets through .
Latest Research: Understanding Americans’ Attitudes Towards Immigrants
Beginning in 2020, the IIR conducted a survey project aimed at understanding how Americans feel about immigrants and why. The main finding was that frequent and friendly local contact with any immigrants is associated with a lower likelihood that an individual sees immigration in the United States as a whole as a problem. Creating local opportunities for frequent and friendly interaction can lead to changing views on immigrants at the national level.
Immigration Data on Demand (iDod) provides information to academics, policy-makers and the public with unbiased and objective research related to immigrants and immigration in the United States. This service is provided free of charge to help individuals and institutions examine the immigrant populations of their particular geography.
Books
October 2019
Working Together: How Community Colleges and Their Partners Help Immigrants Succeed
Published by Rowman & Littlefield and the American Association of Community Colleges
This book showcases exemplary initiatives of community colleges and their partners to integrate immigrant and refugee students, and the ways these students enrich campus life, strengthen communities and benefit the economy. The chapter Reflective Narrative: How Community Colleges can Reframe the Immigration Narrative was written by The ILC Public Education Institute Director Denzil Mohammed.
January 2013
Immigrant Struggles, Immigrant Gifts
Published by George Mason University Press
Edited by The ILC founder and CEO Diane Portnoy, Barry Portnoy and Charlie Riggs, Immigrant Struggles, Immigrant Gifts chronicles the experience of 11 immigrant groups in the U.S. written by 11 experts in their respective fields.
Massachusetts Research
March 2012
Massachusetts Immigrants by the Numbers, Second Edition: Demographic Characteristics and Economic Footprint
Full Report (PDF)
December 2005
Immigrant Homebuyers in Lawrence and Lowell, Massachusetts: Keys to the Revitalization of Cities
Full Report (PDF)
Entrepreneurship Research
APRIL 2013
Immigrant Entrepreneurs Creating Jobs and Strengthening the U.S. Economy in Growing Industries: Transportation, Food and Building Services
with a Regional View of Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania and a Focus on the Green Economy
Fast Facts
Full Report (PDF)
November 2010
Massachusetts Immigrant Entrepreneurs
Engines for Economic Growth, Wealth and Job Creation
Full Report (PDF)
December 2005
Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Neighborhood Revitalization: Studies of the Allston Village, East Boston and Fields Corner Neighborhoods in Boston
Full Report (PDF)
JUNE 2016
Immigrants in Health Care: Keeping Americans Healthy Through Care and Innovation
Full Report (PDF)
June 2010
Impact of Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Workers in Leisure and Hospitality Businesses: Massachusetts and New England
Full Report (PDF)
March 2009
Immigrant Workers in the Massachusetts Health Care Industry: A Report on Status and Future Prospects
Full Report (PDF)