Children of immigrants are the fastest growing component of the child population. While immigrants are 12 percent of the total population, children of immigrants make up 23 percent of all US children and almost 30 percent of all low-income children.

Thus, policies that advantage or disadvantage families in general and low-income families with children in particular, such as early schooling, family literacy, and day care will have far-reaching impacts on immigrant families. At the same time, policies affecting families will increasingly be judged by their effects on the health, well-being, and school readiness and success of immigrant children.

DREAM vs. Reality: An Analysis of Potential DREAM Act Beneficiaries
Slightly more than 2.1 million unauthorized immigrant youth and young adults could be eligible to apply for legal status under the DREAM Act legislation pending in Congress, though perhaps fewer than 40 percent would obtain legal status because of barriers limiting their ability to take advantage of the legislation's educational and military service routes to legalization. This MPI analysis offers the most recent and detailed estimates of potential DREAM Act beneficiaries by age, education levels, gender, state of residence and likelihood of gaining legalization.
Updated Estimates | Download Report | Press Release

Today’s Second Generation: Getting Ahead or Falling Behind?
By Roger Waldinger and Renee Reichl
Securing the Future: US Immigrant Integration Policy, A Reader
February 2007

Knight Community Profiles on Young Children of Immigrants
By David Dixon, Julia Gelatt, and Afshin Zilanawala
February 2007
MPI provides an overview of characteristics of young children (under age 9) of immigrants living in 14 communities throughout the United States.

The Second Generation in the United States
Migration Information Source Special Issue
October 2006

New MPI Research Project on Children of Black Immigrants
There are 1.3 million children in Black immigrant families in the United States, most with parents from Africa and the Caribbean. Children in these families account for 11 percent of all Black children in America and represent a rapidly growing segment of the US population. Yet despite these demographic changes, children in Black immigrant families remain neglected by research studies. To address this important gap in knowledge, MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, with support from the Foundation for Child Development, is embarking on a project to examine the well-being and development of children in Black immigrant families in the first decade of life (birth to age 10).

DREAM vs. Reality: An Analysis of Potential DREAM Act Beneficiaries
Slightly more than 2.1 million unauthorized immigrant youth and young adults could be eligible to apply for legal status under the DREAM Act legislation pending in Congress, though perhaps fewer than 40 percent would obtain legal status because of barriers limiting their ability to take advantage of the legislation's educational and military service routes to legalization. This MPI analysis offers the most recent and detailed estimates of potential DREAM Act beneficiaries by age, education levels, gender, state of residence and likelihood of gaining legalization.
Download Report | Press Release

More than one in five children in the United States, and more than one in four low-income children, is the child of an immigrant. 

Three-fourths of the children of immigrants are citizens.

Two out of three children with an undocumented parent are citizens living in mixed-status families.

The president’s budget for fiscal year (FY) 2008 would slightly reduce funding for No Child Left Behind Language Acquisition State grants under Title III to $671 million (the same amount appropriated in FY 2006), down from $678 million in FY 2007.

The president’s budget would eliminate federal funding for the Even Start program, which provided reading education to both children and parents. A share of national Even Start funding had been set aside for serving migrant workers and their families.

The budget calls for sustained funding for Head Start. A portion of Head Start funding is allocated for children of migrant workers.

Health Care for Children of Immigrants
Annotated Bibliography, National Conference of State Legislatures, Health Care and Children in Immigrant Families Project, January 2007

Young Children in Immigrant Families: The Role of Philanthropy
By Kinsey Alden Dinan
Columbia University, National Center for Children in Poverty, May 2006

Reaching All Children: Understanding Early Care and Education Participation among Immigrant Families
By Hannah Matthews and Daniel Ewen
Center for Law and Social Policy, January 2006

Undercounted. Underserved. Immigrant and Refugee Families in the Child Welfare System
The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2006

The New Demography of America’s Schools: Immigration and the No Child Left Behind Act
By Randy Capps, Michael Fix, Julie Murray, Jason Ost, Jeffrey S. Passel, and Shinta Herwantoro Hernandez
Urban Institute, September 2005

The Effects of Universal Pre-K on Cognitive Development
By William T. Gormley Jr., Ted Gayer, Deborah Phillips, and Brittany Dawson
Developmental Psychology 41, No. 6 (2005): 872-884.

"Leveling the Playing Field: Supporting Immigrant Children from Birth to Eight"
By Ruby Takanishi
The Future of Children, 14(2): 61-79, 2004

The Health and Well-Being of Young Children of Immigrants
By Randy Capps, Michael Fix, Jason Ost, Jane Reardon-Anderson, and Jeffrey S. Passel
Urban Institute, 2004

Federal Policy for Immigrant Children: Room for Common Ground?
By Ron Haskins, Mark Greenberg, and Shawn Fremstad
Brookings Institution, 2004

Demographic Change and Life Circumstances of Immigrant Families
By Donald J. Hernandez
Future of Children 14, No. 2 (2004): 17-47