Current Research

DESCRIPTION OF RESEARCH:

This project brings together leading UC immigration scholars, students, and organizations across California and the US-Mexico border to 1) conduct an unprecedented, multi-sited, and multi-scalar analysis of the impacts of US treatment of asylum seekers, by and for California’s immigrants, and 2) seed a just future for migrants. Funding will support two major initiatives: 

The PIs (Abigail Andrews, Stephanie L. Canizales, Mirian Martinez-Aranda, and Silvia Rodriguez Vega) will collaborate with immigrant NGOs and UC graduate and undergraduate students to conduct interviews, participant observation, and art workshops with asylum-seeking families across California, in detention, at the US-Mexico border, and in Mexico en route to the United States. Researchers co-design the study with NGOs and service providers and work with migrants to understand their lived experiences. The study will connect California’s major regions and compare practices in California to other sites in the US and beyond. These data will provide a first-of-its kind understanding of the impacts of current US policies and enforcement practices for migrants, with a focus on youth and families. In addition, the study will identify, design, and test humane alternatives to border militarization, detention, and long-term urban limbo. 

We will build a California-wide community of scholars and practitioners reimagining and practicing just resettlement. We will offer small grants to UC faculty, graduate students, undergraduates, community organizers, and artists, to cultivate innovation and cross-sector dialogue. And, we will hold annual two-day convenings and regular workshops to bring together these groups and reimagine refuge, intellectually, artistically, and practically. 

This research is funded by the UC Office of the President's Multicampus Research Projects and Initiatives Grant. Learn more here: https://www.ucop.edu/research-initiatives/programs/mrpi/files/MRPI-Abstracts.pdf