Our research confronts the dehumanizing impacts of the US immigration system for people from Mexico, Central America, and around the world. All research is free in open-source publications or white papers. Scroll for details & links!
Migrant Labor & Energy Transition: Imperial Valley
2022-present
We are currently conducting interviews and surveys with Spanish-speaking workers in Imperial County, CA to understand how to fight farm labor abuse and organize labor in the midst of the climate/energy transition. In particular, we are using research to advocate for workers amid the rise of the multi-billion dollar lithium industry in the region.
Partners: Comité Cívico del Valle, Imperial Valley Equity and Justice Coalition, UCSD Labor Center
Related Publications & Reports: in progress.
Asylum Seekers in Humanitarian Crisis
2019-2023
Based on more than 1,000 in-depth interviews and surveys with asylum seekers in Tijuana and in immigration detention, we examine how current US asylum policies affect families on the front lines of the asylum crisis at the US-Mexico border. The data are used to co-design programs to meet asylum seekers’ basic needs, allow for joy amid struggle, and disseminate information on US asylum.
Partners 2020-2023: Al Otro Lado, Innovation Law Lab, Templo Embajadores de Jesus, Espacio Migrante, Haitian Bridge Alliance
Related Publications & Reports:
- Scholarly Publications:
- “Exit as Care: How Motherhood Mediates Women’s Exodus from Mexico and Central America” in Violence against Women
- “Resiste Gozando (Resist with Joy): Creative and Embodied Responses to Weaponized Waiting at the US-Mexico Border” in Security Dialogue
- Team research briefs from community-based fieldwork (2021-2023):
- Finding Joy Amidst Border Violence (With Al Otro Lado)
- Isolation and Legal Exclusion: Barriers to Meeting Asylum Seekers’ Basic Needs (with Al Otro Lado)
- A Cycle of Vulnerability: Single Mothers at the US-Mexico Border (with Al Otro Lado)
- No Safe Third Country: Criminal & State Violence against Asylum Seekers in Mexico (with Al Otro Lado)
- Humanitarian Crisis at the US-Mexico Border: An Evaluation of Asylum Seekers’ Basic Needs (with Al Otro Lado)
- Cut Off: How ICE Detention Facilities Block Communication (with Innovation Law Lab)
- Preliminary Report: Needs Assessment of Health Conditions at a Tijuana Shelter (with UCSD Center on Global Justice)
- Undergraduate Reports based on original fieldwork (2020):
- “Why gangs are like states and Central Americans merit asylum“
- “Nowhere Left to Turn: How Cartel violence forces women to leave”
- “The Retraumatization of Asylum Seekers in Mexico“
- “The Asylum Limbo“
- “Love Across Borders: Through the Lens“
Deportation
2018-2020
Based on participant observation and nearly 200 in-depth interviews with deported men and women, we examine the implications of deportation for families and the ways people who are “banished” resist.
Partners: Casa del Migrante Tijuana, Casa Madre Assunta, Padre Chava, Otros Dreamers en Acción, Puente TJ United, 7 migrant shelters
Related Publications & Reports:
- Scholarly Publications:
- Banished Men: How Migrants Endure the Violence of Deportation (University of California Press, FREE e-book)
- “Forced out of Fatherhood: How Men Strive to Parent Post-Deportation” in Social Problems (by Abigail Andrews and Fátima Khayar Cámara)
- Undergraduate Reports based on original fieldwork (2020):
- “Documenting ICE and Police Abuse During Deportation“
Binational Education & Student Inclusion
2016-2020 (Tijuana)
2021-2023 (UCSD)
In 2021 and 2023, the MMFRP partnered with on-campus equity organizations to understand how UCSD could improve Latinx student inclusion as it becomes a Hispanic Serving Institution.
- Final Report 2023: “Barriers to Belonging II: Deepening Latinx Student Inclusion at UCSD“
- Final report 2021: “Barriers to Belonging: Latinx Students at UCSD“
From 2016-2020 the MMFRP conducted original research to understand the opportunities and challenges facing binational youth in the San Diego-Tijuana border region. We surveyed 400 high school classrooms in San Diego and Tijuana, supplemented by interviews and focus groups. The data have been used to identify ideas to help students succeed and rapidly prototype programs to support youth.
This project was run by Melissa Floca, former Associate Director of the UCSD Center for US-Mexican Studies.
- Undergraduate reports based on original fieldwork:
- “Seeking Success across Borders“
Mexico-US Migration
2004-2015
From 2004-2015 the MMFRP conducted rotating surveys in three migrant-sending communities in Mexico: one in the state of Oaxaca, one in the Yucatán, and one in Jalisco. The team also surveyed migrants from these communities who lived in the United States. These rich case studies and data allowed our team to examine the reasons people migrate, both legally and in an unauthorized manner, and how migration was affected by border enforcement and deportation.
This work resulted in fourteen books and special journal issues as well as dozens of articles in peer-reviewed journals and public policy studies.
This project was run by Dr. Wayne Cornelius, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at UCSD and founder of the MMFRP and Dr. David Fitzgerald, Professor of Sociology at UCSD.
Mexican Migration Field Research Program 