General Terms
A person who moves to a new country to live there permanently or long-term.
Immigrant
The legal process through which a non-citizen becomes a citizen of a country
Naturalization
A federal agency that enforces immigration laws, including deportations and investigations.
ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
When immigrants adopt the customs and language of the new country, sometimes at the cost of losing their own culture
Assimilation
People who were born in another country and moved to the U.S.
First-generation immigrants
A person who leaves their home country to live in another.
Emigrant
The official permission to enter and stay in a country for a specific reason and time period (e.g., work, study, join family)
Visa
A federal agency responsible for regulating and monitoring U.S. borders and ports of entry.
CBP (Customs and Border Protection)
A process in which immigrants maintain their original culture while also participating in the social and economic life of the new country.
Integration
A belief or policy that values cultural diversity and supports different cultural identities coexisting in society.
Multiculturalism
A person who flees their home country due to war, violence, or persecution and is granted protection in another country.
Refugee
A person who has legal permission to live and work in the U.S. indefinitely, but is not a citizen.
A term (often politically charged) describing when immigrants bring family members to join them in the new country.
Chain migration
The process of cultural change that happens when two cultures come into contact.
Acculturation
An immigration system that selects immigrants based on skills, education, or job offers rather than family ties.
Merit-based immigration
A person who applies for protection in another country because they fear harm in their home country but has not yet been legally recognized as a refugee.
Asylum seeker
Legal protection granted to someone who has fled their country due to persecution.
Asylum
The process of forcing someone to leave the country because they are in violation of immigration laws.
Deportation/removal
Fear, hatred, or discrimination against people from other countries or cultures.
Xenophobia
A former policy where undocumented immigrants caught at the border were released while they awaited a court date.
Catch and Release
A minority language learned by its speakers at home during childhood, often associated with a person's cultural background and spoken within family or community settings. It may not be fully developed due to limited exposure in the broader social environment.
Hertiage Language/Heritage Language Speaker
A U.S. policy that protects certain undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children from deportation.
DACA (Deffered Action for Childhood Arrivals)
the web-based system that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) uses to maintain information on Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP)-certified schools, F-1 and M-1 students who come to the United States to attend those schools
SEVIS
A group of people from the same country or culture who live in a different country but maintain connections to their homeland.
Diaspora
A policy that sets a maximum number of immigrants allowed from certain countries or categories each year.
Quota System