What Does It Mean to Change the U.S. Immigration System? Perspectives from U.S. Immigration Advocates

This report describes how immigration advocates—people engaging in political or legal campaigns for, and/or offering direct services and support to, immigrants—understand their efforts to reduce or prevent the harms of the U.S. immigration system on immigrants and their families. We draw on interviews with 67 immigration advocates representing 76 immigrant-serving nonprofits across the United States between November 2021 and February 2023. The interviews affirm advocates and their organizations’ important frontline roles in reducing systemic harm by addressing immigrants’ immediate material, social, and/or legal needs. Yet, when it comes to preventing harm by reforming or transforming the immigration system, many advocates believe their efforts do little but maintain the system’s structure. Advocates attribute this dynamic to several sources, including the ever-evolving harms of the current system; the demands of the public and private funders their organizations rely on; intraorganizational challenges common to immigrant-serving organizations; and the perceived immovability of the national, state, and local political contexts they work in. We conclude with several immediate and long-range suggestions for immigration advocates to consider as they continue their work.