Abstract
The U.S. immigration system has been under severe scrutiny and subject to revision many times. Policymakers fi nd it challenging to balance the multiple interests, perspectives, and expectations that political actors, the general public, and international agents place on immigration policies. The results often are rules and regulations rapidly obsolete to deal long term with the phenomena. The intention of this work is to present an analytical framework for public policy that incorporates the non-linear features of migration. Public policies designed for singular, large scale governance applications tend to assume static or equilibrium conditions in society and therefore, fail to demonstrate sustainable approaches for addressing the inherent complexities of societal systems. In this particular instance, migrants are inherently heterogeneous, and require acknowledging the diversity of issues, elements, and challenges present to advance our understanding of migration to the U.S. and to design policies reflective of said complexity.