Support our non-partisan non-profit newsroom 💜 Donate now

A record number of Chinese migrants make their way to the U.S.-Mexico border

Feb 1, 2024
A record number of Chinese migrants are using the established South American trail to reach the U.S. border.
Chinese migrants attempting to cross into the U.S. from Mexico are detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in November 2023.
Nick Ut/Getty Images

Remittances grew again in 2023

Dec 19, 2023
Migrants around the world sent nearly $670 billion back to family members in their home countries. For some countries, remittances make up a quarter to a half of GDP.
A major reason remittances have grown in the past few years is that the U.S. economy has fared better since the onset of the pandemic compared to other countries.
Eva Marie Uzcategui/AFP via Getty Images

WhatsApp has streamlined business communication for human smuggling

Aug 1, 2023
Social media has transformed global communication, benefiting those who are in the business of guiding and transporting migrants seeking better lives.
Social media and direct messaging apps, like WhatsApp, have become a major asset in the lucrative business of human smuggling.
AFP via Getty Images

As Title 42 ends, the strong U.S. economy is a major draw for migrants

May 11, 2023
Available jobs and better wages are helping shape the immigration patterns of people leaving their home countries for safer conditions.
Immigrants seeking asylum line up in Yuma, Arizona, on May 11. An increasing number of migrants are arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border as Title 42 expires.
Mario Tama/Getty Images

What's the link between physical and economic mobility?

Oct 14, 2021
In his latest book, globalization scholar Parag Khanna looks at how and why our lives may become a lot more mobile in the decades to come.
A demonstrator holds a banner during the Unteilbar (Indivisible) protest for social justice and climate change action on Sep. 4, in Berlin, Germany.
Omer Messinger via Getty Images

Migrants in Bosnia-Herzegovina are at the mercy of an unscrupulous underground economy

May 11, 2021
To cross the border into Croatia, or "go the game," they often need to rely on others to get cash. That help comes at a price.
Members from an Afghani migrant family approach Croatia's border from the Bosnian side in an attempt to cross into the EU by foot. The family crossed into Croatia only to be pushed back to Bosnia by Croatian police a few hours later.
Damir Sagoli/Getty Images

Turkey — EU tensions threaten refugee deal

Aug 22, 2016
A deal credited with cutting refugee flow into Europe is in peril.
The European Union's deal with Turkey over migration could be in jeopardy in the aftermath of the country's recent attempted coup.
RIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Cuban migrants scramble to claim special status in US

May 25, 2016
Some worry — others hope — improving ties with US may change special privileges.
It took Cuban migrant Henry Salgera about three months to make it to the U.S. He said his bag — containing clothes, some medicine, deodorant and water — is all he carried with him.
Kimberly Adams/Marketplace

European Union close to granting visa-free travel to Turks

May 4, 2016
EU officials hold that Turkey must meet the same requirements for visa-free travel as other countries.
A Turkish flag hangs next to the flag of Europe outside a hotel in Istanbul. “The relationship between the EU and Turkey is a very foul one right now,” says Kemal Kirişci, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Chris McGrath/Getty Images

The migrant remittances industry, by the numbers

Apr 5, 2016
Trump’s border wall plan has us talking about the money people send back home. Let’s do the numbers on this booming business.
 
Matt Cardy/Getty Images