NGOs and the future of the migration debate

Over the past quarter of a century, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working with refugees and immigrants in the United States have emerged as a formidable force. The government funds them to help newcomers adjust, policy-makers listen to them, the media quotes them, and immigrants and refugees rely on them for assistance and advocacy. This development has caused tensions with other stakeholders in the US immigration debate and raised concerns that it will lead to polarization over progress in the policy arena. The author argues that although NGOs and other key actors have had a difficult time responding to the pace, scope, and diversity of immigration into the US, a combination of factors make it possible, even likely, that in the coming decade NGOs, federal and local governments, researchers, refugee and immigrant communities, and intergovernmental organizations will forge new understandings and modernized policy structures that will manage migration intelligently rather than repress it ineffectively.