Muzaffar Chishti
Senior Fellow
Director, MPI office at NYU School of Law
Muzaffar Chishti, a lawyer, is an MPI Senior Fellow and Director of the MPI office at New York University School of Law. His work focuses on U.S. immigration policy at the federal, state, and local levels; the intersection of labor and immigration law; immigration enforcement; civil liberties; and immigrant integration.
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Prior to joining MPI, Mr. Chishti was Director of the Immigration Project of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial & Textile Employees (UNITE).
Mr. Chishti serves on the board of the New York Immigration Coalition. He has served as Chairman of the Boards of Directors of the National Immigration Forum and the National Immigration Law Center, as a member of the American Bar Association’s Coordinating Committee on Immigration, and on the board of the Asian American Federation.
Mr. Chishti has testified extensively on immigration policy issues before Congress and is frequently quoted in the media. In 1992, as part of a U.S. team, he assisted the Russian Parliament in drafting its legislation on forced migrants and refugees. He is a 1994 recipient of the New York State Governor's Award for Outstanding Asian Americans and a 1995 recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
Mr. Chishti was educated at St. Stephen's College, Delhi; the University of Delhi; Cornell Law School; and the Columbia School of International Affairs.
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Recent Activity
MPI's Muzaffar Chishti and Claire Bergeron report on the H-1B visa window, Real ID regulations, Arizona's proposed guest worker program, and more.
MPI's Muzaffar Chishti and Claire Bergeron report on the virtual border fence in Arizona, House immigration talks, increased fines for employers of unauthorized immigrants, and more.
MPI's Muzaffar Chishti and Claire Bergeron report on the USCIS naturalization application backlog, final Real ID regulations, proposed H-2A visa changes, and more.
MPI's Muzaffar Chishti and Claire Bergeron report on Arizona's employer sanctions law, a Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative passport provision delay, H-2B caps, and more.
This report provides a framework for assessing the legal validity of state legislative measures that address unauthorized immigration. To determine their validity, authors seek to establish whether Congress has preempted the law, and if not, whether these local laws exceed the bounds of constitutional authority by conflicting or interfering with existing federal regulatory regimes.
This report captures India’s exceptional growth in reported remittances over the 15-year period between 1990 and 2005. It explores the relative importance of these remittances in India’s economy, and then identifies factors responsible for this exponential gain.
Testimony of Muzaffar Chishti, director of MPI’s Office at NYU School of Law, before the House Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security.
India receives more remittances than any other country in the world. MPI's Muzaffar Chishti explores the factors responsible for remittance growth in the last 15 years.
Unauthorized Immigrants with Criminal Convictions: Who Might Be a Priority for Removal?