The Institute on Immigrant Integration Research & Policy Launches Announces New Webinar Series Examining Immigrant Integration Resilience Amid Growing Policy Uncertainty
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 27, 2026
Distinguished scholars from UCLA and USC to headline November 12 inaugural webinar exploring how immigrant communities and public institutions can withstand, respond to, and recover from policy stress
ALBANY, N.Y. — As immigration policies across the United States continue to shift, creating uncertainty for millions of immigrant families, employers, communities, and public institutions, the Institute on Immigrant Integration Research & Policy (IIIRP) at SUNY’s Rockefeller Institute of Government is launching a timely and thought-provoking five-part webinar series exploring a critical question: When immigration policies create instability, what does it take for immigrants, communities, and institutions not merely to survive, but to remain resilient and thrive?
The 2026–2027 webinar series, “Immigrant Integration Resilience Under Policy Stress,” will bring together nationally recognized researchers, scholars, policy experts, and practitioners to examine how immigration enforcement, changing federal policies, institutional responses, and economic uncertainty shape the experiences and opportunities of foreign-born Americans.
The series will move beyond traditional discussions of immigrant integration to introduce a broader framework focused on the ability of immigrants, families, communities, and receiving institutions to resist, absorb, recover from, and adapt to changing policy conditions while sustaining economic opportunity, institutional trust, civic participation, social connection, and belonging.
Inaugural Webinar Features Two Leading Immigration Scholars
The series opens on Thursday, November 12, 2026, at 1:30 p.m. EST, with a free public webinar titled “Immigrant Integration Under Pressure: What Does Resilience Mean?”
Framed around the theme Beyond Integration: Understanding Immigrant Resilience Under Policy Stress, this inaugural conversation will feature two distinguished scholars whose research has contributed significantly to the understanding of immigration, inequality, social mobility, and the role of public institutions:
Dr. Cecilia Menjívar, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Dorothy L. Meier Social Equities Chair at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Dr. Menjívar is internationally recognized for her research examining immigration law, state power, structural inequality, and the effects of legal and institutional systems on immigrant families and communities.
Dr. Jody Agius Vallejo, Professor of Sociology and American Studies and Ethnicity and Associate Director of the Equity Research Institute at the University of Southern California (USC). Dr. Vallejo’s research examines immigrant integration, social and economic mobility, racial and class inequality, and the influence of immigration policies and institutions on access to opportunity.
Together, the panelists will establish the conceptual foundation for the broader webinar series by addressing several important questions: How does immigrant integration resilience differ from integration, assimilation, adaptation, and vulnerability? What constitutes “policy stress”? How do individuals and institutions resist, absorb, recover from, and adapt to policy changes? And what conditions enable immigrant communities not only to withstand adversity but to preserve opportunities for long-term inclusion and prosperity?
The discussion will also examine whether resilience should be viewed primarily as a capacity of immigrants to navigate hardship or as a shared responsibility of the institutions and communities that shape their lives.
A New Framework for a Changing Policy Environment
“We have traditionally measured immigrant integration by examining economic participation, educational attainment, civic engagement, and social connections. But in today’s rapidly changing policy environment, those measures alone cannot tell us whether the progress immigrants and communities have achieved can be sustained,” said Dr. Dina Refki, Executive Director of the Institute on Immigrant Integration Research & Policy.
“We must begin asking a different set of questions: What happens to integration when policies create fear, uncertainty, and instability? How do we protect the progress already made? And are our public institutions sufficiently resilient to maintain access, opportunity, trust, and belonging when immigrant communities are under pressure?”
“This webinar series represents an important evolution in how we understand immigrant integration. Resilience cannot simply mean expecting immigrants to endure greater hardship. It must also mean building institutions, policies, and community partnerships capable of preventing vulnerability, responding to disruption, and sustaining the conditions necessary for people and communities to thrive. Our goal is to bring rigorous research and practical experience together to identify how that can be accomplished,” Refki added.
Five Webinars Exploring the Challenges and Solutions
Running from November 2026 through March 2027, the series will examine immigrant integration resilience across five interconnected dimensions:
- November 12, 2026 | 1:30 p.m. EST
Immigrant Integration Under Pressure: What Does Resilience Mean?
Establishing the conceptual framework for immigrant integration resilience, distinguishing it from traditional concepts of integration and examining the meaning and consequences of policy stress.
- December 16, 2026 | 1:30 p.m. EST
When Federal Policy Changes, Can Local Institutions Hold the Line?
Examining how cities, counties, schools, healthcare systems, libraries, workforce agencies, and nonprofit organizations can buffer immigrant communities from federal policy stress while maintaining access to essential services and institutional trust.
- January 20, 2027 | 2:00 p.m. EST
Working Under Pressure: Immigrant Economic and Workforce Resilience
Exploring how immigration enforcement, legal status, workplace policy, discrimination, and economic uncertainty affect employment, economic mobility, labor markets, and the capacity of employers and worker organizations to respond.
- February 24, 2027 | 2:00 p.m. EST
Families and Institutions Under Stress: Education, Services, and the Chilling Effect
Investigating how immigration-related uncertainty affects mixed-status families, children, schools, public service utilization, English-language learning, and interactions with public institutions, including the longer-term consequences of social exclusion.
- March 17, 2027 | 2:00 p.m. EST
From Vulnerability to Resilience: What Should Communities Build Now?
Identifying actionable strategies to strengthen institutional preparedness, legal services, trusted communication, language access, community networks, economic protections, and cross-sector partnerships before the next policy shock.
Connecting Research, Public Policy, and Practical Solutions
Through this series, IIIRP seeks to advance a deeper understanding of how policy environments affect the ability of immigrants to participate fully in American society and how public institutions can respond more effectively to changing conditions.
The webinars will offer researchers, government officials, educators, employers, service providers, nonprofit organizations, community leaders, and the general public opportunities to engage with emerging research, examine policy implications, and consider practical approaches to strengthening immigrant integration resilience.
The series also reflects the Institute’s broader commitment to advancing evidence-informed policymaking, improving public understanding of immigrant integration, and identifying policies and practices that promote a more inclusive New York.
Registration Information
Inaugural Webinar: Immigrant Integration Under Pressure: What Does Resilience Mean?
Date: Thursday, November 12, 2026
Time: 1:30 p.m. EST
Location: Live via Zoom
Cost: Free; advance registration required
Register at:
https://suny-edu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Z2GIh6d2QlqyI1iG4NiLBQ
For additional information about the Institute and its research, policy initiatives, and upcoming events, visit www.NYImmigrants.org.
About the Institute on Immigrant Integration Research & Policy
The Institute on Immigrant Integration Research & Policy, housed at the Rockefeller Institute of Government, State University of New York, is dedicated to advancing the economic, social, and civic integration of foreign-born New Yorkers through rigorous research, data analysis, evidence-informed policy recommendations, and engagement with public institutions and communities.
Through its research initiatives, statewide data products, policy briefs, fellowships, conferences, and public education programs, the Institute seeks to strengthen the knowledge base necessary to develop responsive policies and practices that advance opportunity, equity, inclusion, and belonging throughout New York State.
Media Contact:
Guillermo Martinez
Deputy Director & Intergovernmental Liaison
Institute on Immigrant Integration Research & Policy
Rockefeller Institute of Government, SUNY
Guillermo.Martinez@rock.suny.edu