Confronting migration at home and abroad: The security implications of large-scale population movements for the United States

There are two serious deficiencies in the literature on the implications of migration for U.S. security. First, previous attempts to classify migration threats have been incomplete and conceptually imprecise. Second, there has been no effort to develop a comprehensive approach to understanding all the ways migration may threaten U.S. security. The existing literature is divided between research on direct threats to the United States arising from high levels of legal and illegal immigration and studies of U.S. security interests in migration crises abroad. This study endeavors to remedy these two deficiencies by refining the conceptual framework and analyzing all the threats to U.S. security, with particular emphasis on those areas scholars most frequently overlook. Overall, this study finds that migration constitutes only a marginal security threat, although the United States will continue to play a leading role in resolving migration crises abroad through the use of military force.