AI Governance & Immigration
Artificial intelligence is reshaping how immigration systems operate, how decisions get made, and who bears the consequences. Federal agencies are deploying AI tools at scale, often ahead of the legal frameworks, oversight mechanisms, and accountability structures that govern comparable uses elsewhere in government. That gap has implications far beyond immigration.
The Other 54 conducts original research and policy analysis at the intersection of AI governance and immigration, examining what agencies are actually deploying, what oversight exists on paper, and where accountability gaps are structural rather than incidental. Our work draws on FOIA productions, agency disclosures, and primary-source regulatory filings.
Current work includes an ongoing research series examining AI adoption across federal immigration agencies, published through our newsletter. We are also developing a U.S. AI Governance Power Map tracking the institutional landscape, state-based policy recommendations for jurisdictions navigating federal AI enforcement within their borders, and analysis of the national security implications of excluding noncitizens from AI safety framework design.
That last question matters beyond the immigration context. AI safety frameworks built without accounting for their application to noncitizen populations will have structural blind spots that affect everyone when those tools migrate into broader use.