The article is devoted to the 40th anniversary of foundation of one of the American Soviet studies centers - Kennan Institute, which is a subdivision of Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (Washington DC, the USA). One of the key directions of Kennan Institute activities is the study of migration processes in contemporary Russia. The article is based on the «Eurasian Migration Papers» founded at the beginning of XXI century. The authors of these papers are both American scholars and specialists from post-soviet states. They give the main attention to migrants from Central Asia and the perception of this problem by Russian people.