• Seeks the dissolution of U.S. borders, and the legalization of illegal immigrants currently in America
• Works closely with the National Council of La Raza and the American Civil Liberties Union

The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) is a self-described “independent, non-partisan, non-profit think-tank” that “provides analysis, development, and evaluation of migration and refugee policies at the local, national, and international levels.” MPI was established in 2001 by Kathleen Newland and Demetrios G. Papademetriou, when the International Migration Policy Program (IMPP) of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace became an independent entity. IMPP conducted migration policy briefings, policy roundtables, luncheon seminars, and study advisory groups aimed at influencing policy-makers and program officials in Washington, DC.  MPI has continued its predecessor’s tradition by supporting: (a) “self-governance at the border,” whereby communities that straddle a national border manage their own affairs rather than being forced to abide by policies set in Washington; (b) a more permissive U.S. refugee admissions and resettlement policy; and (c) increased social welfare benefits for illegal immigrants residing in the United States.

MPI has also continued IMPP’s effort to erase the border between the U.S. and Mexico; to move beyond "absolute notions of sovereignty";  to recognize "a clear convergence in the labor markets of both countries [and] the re-conceptualization of the common border and the border region as a line of convergence rather than separation"; and to create "a North America with gradually disappearing border controls ... with permanent migration remaining at moderate levels."

In April 2002 MPI issued a paper by then-Co-Director (and current President) Demetrios Papademetriou, who formerly served as Director for Immigration Policy and Research at the U.S. Labor Department during the Clinton administration. This paper advocated that the United States should strike a “grand bargain” with Mexico that would include: (a) a registration program for illegal immigrants living in the U.S., to be followed by an “earned regularization” (or legalization) program for all registrants; this program would include a "Mexicans-first" clause but would also make the option available to other nationalities in phases; (b) a broad U.S. temporary worker program for new Mexican workers; and (c) an expedited family reunification provision to bring immediate family members of "unauthorized" immigrants from Mexico to the United States with all the legal protections and worker rights enjoyed by legal U.S. residents. This "grand bargain" would not impose on Mexico any new obligation to discourage its citizens from illegally emigrating to the United States.

MPI has steadfastly opposed the Patriot Act and other post-9/11 security efforts as “measures more commonly associated with totalitarian regimes.”

MPI receives financial support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Center for Global Development, the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, the Ford Foundation, the European Commission, the European Union Delegation to the United States, the Fannie Mae Foundation, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the government of Italy, the government of Mexico, the JEHT Foundation, the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, the J.M. Kaplan Fund, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Council of State Legislatures, the Open Society Institute, the South East Asian Resource Action Center, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement.

As of 2004, MPI’s net assets were $1,096,461. That same year, it received $3,160,461 in grants.