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Immigrants in U.S. Earn 10.6% Less Than Native-Born Workers, But Biggest Driver is Job Access, Not Wage Discrimination

Immigrants in the United States earn 10.6% less than similarly educated U.S.-born workers, largely because they are concentrated in lower-paying industries, occupations and companies, according to a major new study published July 16 in Nature, co-authored by a University of Massachusetts Amherst sociologist who studies equal opportunity in employment. The research—one of the most comprehensive global comparisons of immigrant labor market integration to date—analyzes linked employer-employee data from over 13 million people across nine advanced economies in Europe and North America. The U.S. results, drawn from a unique combination of Census Bureau, earnings and employer data, reveal that only about one-quarter of the wage gap is due to pay inequality within the same job and company. Instead, the majority stems from structural barriers that limit immigrants’ access to better-paying workplaces. “These findings are important because they show that most of the immigrant wage gap isn’t about being paid less for the same work—it’s about not getting into the highest-paying jobs and firms in the first place,” says Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, professor of sociology and founding director of the Center for Employment Equity at UMass Amherst Key U.S. Findings First-generation immigrants with legal status in the U.S. earn 10.6% less than comparable native-born workers. 3.4%, a third of that gap, is attributable to unequal pay for the same job at the same employer. No data was available on second-generation immigrants in the U.S., but other countries showed persistent but smaller gaps into the next generation. The study suggests that efforts to close immigrant wage gaps should focus on increasing immigrants’ access to better jobs and firms. Promising approaches include: Language and skills training Recognition of foreign credentials Access to professional networks Employer anti-bias interventions “Improving job access is essential,” says co-author Andrew Penner, professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine. “This means addressing the barriers that keep immigrants out of the highest-paying firms and occupations.” As of 2023, immigrants constituted approximately 14% of the U.S. population, totaling over 47 million people. There are approximately 1 million new long-term permanent residents annually. U.S. immigration policy encompasses diverse pathways, including family-based migration, employment-based visas, the Diversity Visa Lottery and humanitarian protection. Immigration has been a defining feature of the U.S. population since its founding, with distinct waves shaped by economic needs, political developments and global conflicts. “For almost 250 years, we have been a nation of immigrants, and this pay gap indicates that we can do more as a country to help people following the paths of our forebears realize the American dream,” Tomaskovic-Devey adds. Global Comparison The study includes 13.5 million individuals in nine immigrant-receiving countries: the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden. The U.S. had one of the smallest pay gaps (10.6%) among the nine countries studied. By contrast, Canada showed a 27.5% gap and Spain a 29.3% gap. The most favorable outcomes for immigrants were in Sweden (7% gap) and Denmark (9.2%). The authors identify two main sources of the immigrant-native pay gap: Sorting—Immigrants are more likely to work in lower-paying industries, occupations and firms. Within-job inequality—In all countries immigrants are paid less than natives doing the same job for the same employer, but these gaps are relatively small. Across the nine countries, three-quarters of the 17.9% average wage gap for immigrants was due to sorting; just one-quarter stemmed from unequal pay within jobs. In the U.S., this pattern was consistent: structural job access—not wage discrimination—was the dominant force. The study also exposes persistent disadvantages for immigrants from certain world regions, including Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Across all countries, immigrants from these regions faced larger wage gaps than immigrants from Western or Asian countries. The international research is the latest in a series of high-profile publications from a team spanning over a dozen countries in North America and Europe that has been investigating the dynamics of workplace earnings distributions for the last decade.

Disaster Reduction: Key Insights for Risk Managers & Corporate Executives

The need for comprehensive disaster risk management has never been more evident. In recent years, major storms, earthquakes, wildfires, tornados, derechos, and other destructive large-scale events have been significant. According to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) 2025 Global Assessment Report, disaster costs now exceed over $2.3 trillion annually when cascading and ecosystem costs are taken into account.  What can be done to minimize both the damaging effects and significant costs associated with these types of events? In this article, J.S. Held EHS experts John Dulude and Bill Zoeller examine the critical components of disaster resilience – preparedness, mitigation, and resilience – and delve into the insights that can empower risk managers and corporate executives to safeguard their organizations. What’s covered : • Proactive Disaster Planning and Preparedness • Case Study: Hurricane Hilary 2023 | Western United States • Tailoring Resilience to Geographic Risks • Learning from Disaster for Continuous Improvement The insights shared in this article underscore the critical importance of proactive planning, meticulous preparation, and resilience in the face of inevitable disasters. For media inquiries, contact : Kristi L. Stathis, J.S. Held +1 786 833 4864 Kristi.Stathis@JSHeld.com

Are China's New Policies Opening Up China?

For centuries China has been known as a closed country. When the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) started enforcing immense cultural and political influence, it acted as a catalyst for China's closed country status. Then the Qing dynasty (1644-1912) made the closed country status official by expanding China's political, cultural and administrative structures.  Now after over 600 years, China is announcing they may become more open than they have in past centuries. China is not fully becoming open, but there are two ways China is hoping to re-establish its reputation among other countries.  In 2024 China announced they are enabling a temporary visa-free policy, that permits visitors from 43 countries to visit China without visas for short trips lasting only a few days. China installed this policy with hopes of promoting global goodwill and to encourage tourism and business travel.  Now in 2025, China says they will implement policies that will promote stable foreign trade growth and improve services for enterprises. While this new policy is just beginning, the visa-free policy will end at the end of 2025.  So, while China says they are becoming more open, they mean they are welcoming foreign businesses and investors. They are currently not becoming open religiously, politically, socially or economically. Citizens, even visitors, still remain under strict censorship, surveillance and political control. These policies also don't mean that foreign companies will no longer experience restrictions, forced partnerships with Chinese firms, data rules, and unexpected regulatory pressure. These things will still continue to occur. China is being selective on what these policies entail and how long they will last.  Since the COVID lockdowns and now with the real estate crashes and youth unemployment, China has felt its economy slowing. It's their hope that these new policies will help boost China's economy.  Economic Perspective: Dr. Jared Pincin is an expert on economics and is available to speak to media regarding China's economy – simply click on his icon or email mweinstein@cedarville.edu to arrange an interview.  International Relations Perspective: Dr. Glen Duerr, professor of international studies at Cedarville University and a citizen of the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States, is a nationally known expert on this subject and is available to speak to on China's new policies. To schedule an interview, email Mark D. Weinstein, executive director of public relations at Cedarville University at mweinstein@cedarville.edu or click on his icon.

DARPA awards VCU $4.875 million for development of modular drug manufacturing platform

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is funding a $13M grant for a Rutgers University and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) partnership through the EQUIP-A-Pharma program, with $4.175 million to James Ferri, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering at VCU, to develop a modular manufacturing platform for sterile liquid drug products. The 24-month grant supports Ferri’s project, “Modular Manufacturing of Sterile Liquid Drug Products,” which develops a continuous manufacturing platform capable of producing highly potent drug substances such as albuterol sulfate and bupivacaine hydrochloride. These drug substances are for use in sterile liquid products, where compliance with purity of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and impurity profiles are characterized and controlled in real time throughout the manufacturing process. “This work enables agile continuous manufacturing of drug substance and end-to-end drug product manufacturing of several highly potent drug substances with real time quality control,” Ferri said. “The combination of dynamic modular operation and real-time quality control will increase the supply of critical medicines in the United States.” Drug shortages continue to receive national attention, with albuterol sulfate and bupivacaine hydrochloride both appearing on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration drug shortage list within the past year. The project develops technologies that enable distributed manufacturing approaches to essential medicines currently in shortage in the United States. The platform incorporates several innovative features including continuous flow synthesis for improved process performance, online spectroscopy for real-time quality control, and modular unit operations that can be rapidly configured for different drug products. Key technologies include heterogeneous catalytic flow reactors, in-line purification systems and advanced process analytical technologies. The continuous manufacturing approach offers significant advantages over traditional batch manufacturing, including improved process control, reduced waste and the ability to produce medicines closer to the point of care. The modular design enables rapid deployment and flexible manufacturing of multiple drug products using the same platform. Ferri is collaborating with researchers from Rutgers University on the project, which began in August 2024. The platform is designed to fit within a standard shipping container, enabling distributed manufacturing capabilities. The research directly addresses national security concerns about pharmaceutical supply chain vulnerabilities while advancing the field of continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing. Students involved in the project gain experience in cutting-edge manufacturing technologies that are increasingly important in addressing global health challenges.

AU research team awarded $4.4 million American Heart Association grant

A research team at Augusta University, led by Jennifer C. Sullivan, PhD, has secured a $4.4 million grant from the American Heart Association to study the risk factors for cardiovascular and kidney diseases and how they impact women. Sullivan’s research center, “Disruptions in cardiorenal free fatty acid metabolism in Cardiovascular Kidney Metabolic Syndrome,” is part of a larger $15 million project titled “Strategically Focused Research Network on Cardiovascular Kidney Metabolic Syndrome: Heterogeneity in Women.” The overarching AHA project is aimed at learning why women may be more likely to develop cardiovascular and kidney diseases due to certain unique risk factors and life stages. Research teams from Massachusetts General Hospital and The Ohio State University were also chosen. “I think this is a huge step for Augusta University as we continue to distinguish ourselves and the research that we have here focused on the health of women,” said Sullivan, dean of The Graduate School. “This grant is particularly impactful as we look to advance and improve the health of women, not just in Georgia, but for the entire country.” According to the Healthy Georgia Report, produced by AU’s School of Public Health, Georgia has the 23rd highest rate of obesity in the United States. Among the women living in the state, 38.3% of them, as well as 37.5% of people living in rural areas, suffer from obesity. “It’s great that we are able to represent the state of Georgia because our state has such a high prevalence for obesity rates,” said Sullivan, who is the director of AU’s SCORE project “Improving awareness of women with hypertension: ROAR (Rural, Obese, At Risk).” “It’s important for us to understand that different populations have distinct needs. You can’t talk about a one-size-fits-all approach to health. This is really about trying to understand how different groups are impacted.” Each center is comprised of three teams, as well as a training component and an area partner. Together, they will explore obesity’s lifetime impact on CKM syndrome through three projects. CKM syndrome is a clinical term that describes the combined health effects of heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes and obesity, which puts people at high risk for heart attack, stroke and heart failure. According to the American Heart Association’s 2025 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics, about 1 in 3 U.S. adults has at least three components of CKM syndrome, which include high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol, high blood glucose (sugar), impaired kidney function and excess body weight. The first project is led by Daria Ilatovskaya, PhD, and Justine Abais-Battad, PhD, and will look at aging and Western diet-induced CKMS mechanisms in obesity. Ilatovskaya is an associate professor and the graduate program director for the Doctor of Philosophy in Physiology program, and Abais-Battad is an assistant professor in the Department of Physiology with the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. The second component, led by Jessica Faulkner, PhD, an assistant professor in MCG’s Physiology department, will study obesity-associated mechanisms of CKMS in pregnancy. The third project, led by Stephen Coughlin, PhD, with Marlo Vernon, PhD, is looking at CKMS epidemiology, associations with obesity, CVD/CKD. Coughlin is the program director for the Master of Science in Epidemiology and professor of epidemiology in the School of Public Health’s Department of Biostatistics, Data Science, and Epidemiology, while Vernon is an associate professor with MCG’s Georgia Prevention Institute and SPH’s Department of Community and Behavioral Health Sciences. Additionally, the team will talk to women and health care providers from a variety of backgrounds and experiences to assess current knowledge and interest levels in heart health and use that information to develop programs that may help treat and prevent disease. There is also a training director, Alison Kriegel, PhD, a professor in the Department of Physiology, and a core director, Guido Verbeck, PhD, chair and professor of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the College of Science and Mathematics. “We have a strong blend of clinical epidemiology and basic science, as well as a training component, which we will fill with post-doctoral fellows,” Sullivan said. “Dr. Ilatovskaya, Dr. Faulkner, Dr. Abais-Battad and Dr. Vernon are all a part of our ROAR grant, and, while this isn’t directly related to that program, it allowed us to demonstrate how we are already well positioned to work together to amplify our ability and increase awareness about the importance of the health of women.” The team has over 50 collaborative papers and has secured more than $13 million in collaborative funding to advance the health of women. They also all have experience training fellows and students to continue to expand their reach. “We already have a lot of the infrastructure in place for this kind of cross-disciplinary project, so we leaned very heavily into our connections and the expertise we have here at Augusta University. It’s set up very similar to our ROAR program, so this is something that was really organic in nature,” Sullivan said. The American Heart Association has invested almost $300 million to establish 18 Strategically Focused Research Networks, each aimed at addressing a key strategic issue identified by the association’s volunteer Board of Directors. Prior networks have been studying a wide variety of important topics including, but not limited to, prevention, hypertension, the health of women, heart failure, obesity, vascular disease, atrial fibrillation, arrhythmias/sudden cardiac death, cardiometabolic health/type 2 diabetes, health technology, cardio-oncology, the biological impact of chronic psychosocial stress and the role of inflammation in cardiovascular health. Each network centers around scientific knowledge and knowledge gaps, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the key research topic. Three to six research centers make up each network, bringing together investigators with expertise in basic, clinical and population/behavioral health science to find new ways to diagnose, treat and prevent heart disease and stroke. Funding scientific research and discovery through initiatives like these awards is a cornerstone of the century-old American Heart Association’s lifesaving mission. The association has now funded more than $5.9 billion in cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and brain health research since 1949, making it the single largest non-government supporter of heart and brain health research in the United States. New knowledge resulting from this funding continues to save lives and directly impact millions of people in every corner of the U.S. and around the world. Looking to know more about the amazing research happening at Augusta? To connect with Dr. Sullivan, simply click on her icon to arrange an interview today.

What's Happening with the Iran Conflict?

Since 1997, Iran has vowed "death to America." It hasn't always been that way though, but over the course of seven decades the relationship has changed from being close allies to enemies.  America isn't the only country having conflict with Iran. For over 45 years, Israel has been fighting with Iran. There are currently 10 countries that have conflict with Iran.  Tensions between Israel and Iran rose higher in April 2024, when Iran launched its first-ever drone and missile attack on Israel. This conflict extended into June 2024, then grew quiet while remaining unstable.  On June 13, 2025, Israel launched surprise attacks on Iran due to Iran's imminent threat of constructing nuclear bombs. America, known for being philosemitic, launched its own attack on Iran which President Trump said "obliterated" their nuclear plants. White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt reminded Americans that America has "the best and most lethal fighting force in the world."  While updates are continually being given on the war. President Trump is working on negotiating a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.  Dr. Glen Duerr, professor of international studies at Cedarville University and a citizen of the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States, is a nationally known expert on this subject and is available to speak to on the conflict going on in Iran and the implications it has for America. To schedule an interview, email Mark D. Weinstein, executive director of public relations at Cedarville University at mweinstein@cedarville.edu or click on his icon.

Kyle Davis wins NSF CAREER Award for pioneering research on climate-resilient food systems

University of Delaware assistant professor Kyle Davis has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award—one of the most competitive and prestigious honors for early-career faculty—for his work advancing the climate resilience of global food systems. Davis, who holds joint appointments in the College of Earth, Ocean and Environment and the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, leads cutting-edge research at the intersection of agriculture, sustainability and global environmental change. His focus? Making food production more efficient, climate-smart and socially equitable—especially in regions grappling with limited water resources. With a growing global population and increasing pressure on land and water, Davis’s research is helping to answer one of the most critical questions of our time: How can we feed the world without destroying the planet? His lab’s work recently led to the development of MIRCA-OS, a groundbreaking open-source dataset that offers high-resolution global data on irrigated and rain-fed croplands across 23 crop types. The tool, co-created with UD doctoral student Endalkachew Kebede and published in Nature Scientific Data, allows researchers, farmers and policymakers to assess how crop choices, rainfall and irrigation interact with water systems and food security. Some of the thirstiest crops are grown in the most water-stressed areas Davis said. Shifting crop mixes to crops that require less water but still ensure farmer profits is a promising way to reduce the amount of water needed to irrigate crops and to avoid conditions of water scarcity. Davis’s research spans continents, with active projects in the United States, India, China and Nigeria, where his team is exploring solutions to water scarcity, crop nutrition and agricultural sustainability. His work has appeared in Earth.com, Phys.org and major scientific journals. In 2023, he was recognized with the American Geophysical Union’s Global Environmental Change Early Career Award. In addition to research, Davis is a dedicated mentor, guiding graduate students from around the world. “So much of my research is the result of their passion, abilities, drive and creativity,” Davis said. Davis is available for interviews on topics including sustainable agriculture, water use, climate adaptation, food systems and the power of data science in global development. He can be contacted by clicking the "View Profile" button.

Augusta University named NIH Specialized Center of Research Excellence on Sex Differences

Jennifer C. Sullivan, PhD, dean of The Graduate School at Augusta University, has dedicated her research to better understand why blood pressure increases in hypertension and raising awareness to the dangers of not paying attention to heart health, particularly among women. Throughout her career, Sullivan has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the American Heart Association since becoming a tenure-track faculty member in 2008, and now she has a chance to take her research further after securing a five-year, $7.5 million grant to have Augusta University designated as a Specialized Center of Research Excellence on Sex Differences (SCORE) by the NIH’s Office of Research on Women’s Health. It’s a distinction that places AU among 10 other leaders in research for the field, including Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Emory University, Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, the Mayo Clinic, the Medical University of South Carolina, the University of Colorado and Yale University. The University of California, Los Angeles has two SCORE programs. “I’m so proud and excited for this opportunity because this has been what I have focused my research program on for my entire career, and to be able to advance it with a program like this, where we can actually build a unique program focused on an area that can make a difference, is just so much fun,” Sullivan said. “Just the fact that Augusta will be included on this list, attached to an organization of the caliber of NIH, will provide opportunities that we’ve never had before, especially for our students and younger researchers.” Sullivan’s SCORE project, “Improving awareness of women with hypertension: ROAR (Rural, Obese, At Risk),” focuses primarily on the fact that, while young women are considered “protected” from hypertension and the associated cardiovascular risk relative to age-matched men, the elimination of hypertension is projected to have a larger impact on cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality in women. “The group of people with the highest risk of death from hypertension is in the rural South of the U.S., specifically Black women are particularly vulnerable to developing hypertension and CVD,” Sullivan said. According to Sullivan’s research and information available from the American Heart Association (AHA), approximately 19 million deaths were attributed to CVD globally in 2020, an increase of about 20% from 2010. Both Sullivan and the AHA state that cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States, and that hypertension is a major modifiable risk factor for CVD. Sullivan said, “It has been suggested that eliminating hypertension would reduce CVD mortality by over 30% in men and 38% in women, but a critical barrier to limiting premature death from CVD is lack of awareness surrounding the risks of CVD. Our overall goal in this new funded project is to transform academic and community understanding of sex as a biological variable in the consideration of hypertension.” The three research projects include Sullivan’s lead project on high fat diets, a project on systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) disproportionately affects young women led by Erin Taylor, PhD, at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, and another project looking at the role of inflammation and how immune cells are activated in SLE led by Michael Ryan, PhD, at the University of South Carlina’s School of Medicine. But there is more to SCORE than just conducting research. Each SCORE team is also responsible for a career enhancement core and a leadership administrative core. “What really sets these grants apart are the emphasis on the career enhancement and leadership administrative cores. The Career Enhancement Core is designed to be a bit open ended for each SCORE, but in talking to the NIH, what they were most excited about in our project is the community outreach piece we designed. “Our grant includes people across the entire campus, including Augusta University’s Medical College of Georgia, the College of Allied Health Sciences, the College of Education and Human Development and multiple campus partners including some of our sororities on campus and the Center for Writing Excellence,” Sullivan said. “More specifically, the COEHD is able to extend our outreach efforts to our local schools to begin educating children on the importance of screening, and our sororities are obviously connected with other chapters across the southeast which helps us spread our message, as well.” Sullivan notes that, through this portion of the project alone, there will be numerous opportunities to include students from Augusta University’s CAHS, College of Nursing, Department of Kinesiology, the Biomedical Sciences PhD program and the proposed School of Public Health. Marlo Vernon, PhD, associate professor at MCG and researcher for the Georgia Cancer Center, and Amanda Behr, chair of the Medical Illustration Program in CAHS, are also involved in various stages of the project. “The other thing the Career Enhancement Core will do is provide pilot grants to three research projects each year for early-stage investigators. We’ll also be able to fund sabbaticals for graduate students or postdocs to go someplace else and learn cutting edge techniques from other experts, so there is a lot built in that will help us support up-and-coming researchers,” Sullivan said. “We’re now part of this consortium, and they have a once-a-year, in-person meeting at the NIH offices, so we’ll go to that for the first time this year, and what’s neat about it is they’re really promoting young investigators. Each grant can bring up to eight people, the our hope is that we will have the investigators funded by the pilot projects attend next year, giving those folks the opportunity to present and talk to program officers with the NIH and develop a pipeline of investigators committed to studying women’s health and sex as a biological variable.” Sullivan is also looking to designate some of her summer graduate and undergraduate research positions to the project beginning next summer. “The Graduate School already has a summer program to support undergraduates that we will be able to piggyback off of. We have set aside five slots in that program for this that will go to students studying the sex as a biological variable, and the applications for that program, STAR, is already open,” Sullivan said. “We’re also planning a symposium in collaboration with the Physiology Department in April 2024. This is an annual event sponsored by the department, and this year they selected sex differences as the topic, so we are hoping to help increase exposure and attendance.” Looking to know more about the amazing research happening at  Augusta? To connect with Jennifer Sullivan, simply click on her icon ow to arrange an interview today.

BEPI Poll: Hispanic Economic Outlook Drops Amid Tariffs, Rising Prices

As households face increasing prices for goods and talk of new tariffs, Hispanic optimism in the economy waned in the first quarter of 2025, according to a poll from the Business Economic and Polling Initiative at Florida Atlantic University. The Hispanic Consumer Sentiment Index (HSCI) decreased to 85.7 in the first quarter of 2025, down from 89.6 in the fourth quarter of 2024. When compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, there was a decrease in optimism in four out of five questions used to generate the HCSI. Looking at the year ahead, 53% of Hispanics said they expect the country to experience good business conditions, a decline from 61% in the prior quarter; and 64% of Hispanics indicated they will be better off over the next year, down from 70% in the last quarter of 2024. In terms of the long-run economic outlook of the country, Hispanics are less optimistic in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the fourth quarter of 2024 (52% vs. 58%). Only 51% of Hispanics think it is a good time to buy big-ticket items, compared to 52% in the last quarter of 2024. Only one question had an increase in confidence: 63% of Hispanics said they are better off financially than a year ago, which is 8 percentage points (55%) higher than the last quarter of 2024. “Sentiment softened in four of the five questions this quarter,” said Monica Escaleras, Ph.D., chair and director of BEPI. “Persistently high borrowing costs and everyday price pressures – together with talk of new tariffs and a possible recession – are weighing on household outlooks. These headwinds are keeping many Hispanic families cautious about the economic outlook in the United States.” The poll is based on a sample of 542 Hispanic adults over 18 years old. The survey was administered using both landlines via Interactive Voice Response data collection and online data collection using Dynata. Respondents were sampled between Jan. 1 and March 31 with a margin of error of +/- 4.21 percentage points. Responses for the entire sample were weighted to reflect the national distribution of the Hispanic population by region, education, gender, age and income according to the latest American Community Survey data. Full results can be found here: Looking to know more? We can help. Monica Escaleras is available to speak with media about the BEPI Hispanic Consumer Sentiment Index . Simply click on her icon now to arrange an interview today.

What is Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)?

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), one of the most controversial federal agencies in the United States, plays a central role in enforcing immigration laws and maintaining national security. Created in the aftermath of 9/11 as part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ICE was established to consolidate and streamline immigration enforcement. Over the past two decades, it has become a lightning rod for political and ethical debate—raising urgent questions about border control, civil liberties, and immigration reform. As the national conversation around immigration intensifies, understanding the origins, structure, and impact of ICE remains critically important. Key story angles include: The Origins of ICE Post-9/11: Tracing the agency’s creation in 2003 under DHS and its intended role in counterterrorism and immigration enforcement. How ICE Operates Today: Breaking down ICE’s structure, including Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Controversies and Public Backlash: Investigating high-profile incidents, including family separations, detention center conditions, and deportation raids that have sparked widespread protest. The Politics of Immigration Enforcement: Exploring how ICE has become a partisan issue, with calls for its reform, defunding, or abolishment emerging from activists and lawmakers. The Human Impact of ICE Actions: Highlighting stories of immigrants, asylum seekers, and communities affected by ICE policies and practices. Future of Immigration Enforcement: Examining policy proposals for reforming ICE, improving transparency, and addressing legal and ethical concerns in a changing demographic landscape. As immigration remains one of the most urgent and divisive issues in American politics, ICE stands at the heart of the debate—making its history, purpose, and evolving role a vital topic for journalists and the public to understand. Connect with our experts about the origins and role of ICE : Check out our experts here : www.expertfile.com