Silva
Mathema

Director, Immigration Policy

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Silva Mathema

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Silva Mathema is the director for Immigration Policy at American Progress. Her research focuses on the effects of U.S. immigration policies on the daily lives of immigrants. Previously, she worked as a research associate for the Poverty and Race Research Action Council, where she studied the intersections between race and ethnicity issues and policies regarding affordable housing and education.

Mathema earned her Ph.D. in public policy from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where she specialized in immigration policy, and her B.A. in economics from Salem College. She is originally from Kathmandu, Nepal.

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2023 Survey of DACA Recipients Highlights Economic Advancement, Continued Uncertainty Amid Legal Limbo Article
A group of people holding signs is seen with the U.S. Capitol building in the background.

2023 Survey of DACA Recipients Highlights Economic Advancement, Continued Uncertainty Amid Legal Limbo

The ninth annual survey of DACA recipients illustrates DACA’s role in empowering individuals and communities while strengthening the U.S. economy and highlights the need for a pathway to citizenship.

Playbook for the Advancement of Women in the Economy Report

Playbook for the Advancement of Women in the Economy

This collection of policy recommendations reveals how policymakers can grow the economy by centering the changes that women need in their economic platforms.

Rose Khattar, Sara Estep

The Urgency of Designating Cameroon for Temporary Protected Status Report

The Urgency of Designating Cameroon for Temporary Protected Status

The U.S. government should immediately grant Temporary Protected Status to Cameroonian nationals in the United States, given the extraordinary and deteriorating conditions in the country that make a safe return impossible.

Silva Mathema, Zefitret Abera Molla

Redefining Homeland Security: A New Framework for DHS To Meet Today’s Challenges Report

Redefining Homeland Security: A New Framework for DHS To Meet Today’s Challenges

To meet the challenges of today, the Biden administration and Congress should reform the Department of Homeland Security around a mission that highlights safety and services alongside its traditional protecting roles.

Mara Rudman, Rudy deLeon, Joel Martinez, 5 More Elisa Massimino, Silva Mathema, Katrina Mulligan, Alexandra Schmitt, Philip E. Wolgin

Reinstating the LIFE Act and Eliminating Entry Bars Would Allow Millions of Immigrants To Stay With Their Families Article
A woman hugs her daughter after taking an oath to become a U.S. citizen at a naturalization ceremony in Salt Lake City, April 2019. (Getty/George Frey)

Reinstating the LIFE Act and Eliminating Entry Bars Would Allow Millions of Immigrants To Stay With Their Families

Reinstating the Legal Immigration Family Equity Act or eliminating the three- and 10-year entry bars, or making both changes, would allow many undocumented immigrants to gain legal status.

Silva Mathema, Nicole Prchal Svajlenka, Sofia Carratala

Rebuilding the U.S. Refugee Program for the 21st Century Report
 (A supporter holding a sign that says

Rebuilding the U.S. Refugee Program for the 21st Century

The United States must learn from past experiences—from the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks through the Trump administration—to rebuild a resilient refugee resettlement program.

Silva Mathema, Sofia Carratala

Refugees Thrive in America Report

Refugees Thrive in America

By cutting the number of refugees allowed to enter the United States, the Trump administration is undermining the nation’s historic role as a beacon of freedom and ignoring the advancements of many hardworking aspiring Americans.

Silva Mathema

Revival and Opportunity Report
Quang Nguyen, a Vietnamese immigrant and business owner, stands in front of Le Variety, (Getty/Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald)

Revival and Opportunity

Immigrants are playing a key role in reviving and growing many rural communities and with the right policies could play an even bigger role in sustaining them.

Silva Mathema, Nicole Prchal Svajlenka, Anneliese Hermann

What Works Report

What Works

Many U.S. organizations have developed practical and effective ways to boost refugee integration, and these programs are worth preserving.

Silva Mathema

Fact Sheets: President Trump’s FY 2019 Budget Harms Nearly Every Community Across the Country Fact Sheet
Copies of President Donald Trump's fiscal year 2019 budget sit on a table at the House Budget Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, February 12, 2018. (Getty/AFP/Saul Loeb)

Fact Sheets: President Trump’s FY 2019 Budget Harms Nearly Every Community Across the Country

Trump’s budget is an unmitigated disaster for everyday Americans—including women, people with disabilities, LGBTQ individuals, communities of color, and more.

Eliza Schultz, Katherine Gallagher Robbins, Rejane Frederick, 7 More Silva Mathema, Connor Maxwell, Heidi Schultheis, Anusha Ravi, Leila Schochet, Leonard Scott IV, Shabab Ahmed Mirza

Keeping Families Together Report

Keeping Families Together

A national and state-by-state look at family members of the 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States.

Silva Mathema

Syrian Immigrants in the United States Report
In this April 19, 2016 photo, Syrian-American poet Amal Kassir recites her work during a gathering where immigrants from hostile environments spoke about their lives, at the YWCA in Boulder, Colo. Kassir, a 20-year-old college student, was born in Denver to a father from Syria and a mother from America. A poet who also works in her family’s Middle Eastern restaurant, Kassir describes her own life as being intertwined with that of the United States. Is America great? Yes, she says. And it’s also her best chance.

Syrian Immigrants in the United States

Syrian immigrants are thriving members of American society and represent a strong receiving community for new refugees.

David Dyssegaard Kallick, Cyierra Roldan, Silva Mathema

Refugee Integration in the United States Report
Abdi Said works at an L.L. Bean factory in Lewiston, Maine, on January 26, 2016. (AP/Robert F. Bukaty)

Refugee Integration in the United States

Over time, refugees who have resettled in the United States integrate well into local economies and their new communities, and a majority of them become citizens.

David Dyssegaard Kallick, Silva Mathema

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