Research

Our research confronts the dehumanizing impacts of the US immigration system for people from Mexico, Central America and all over the world.

Since 2018, we have worked at the US-Mexico border.

FEATURED: 2021 research briefs from community-based fieldwork:

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)
Barriers to Belonging: Latinx Students at UCSD (with UCSD Raza Resource Centro & Office for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion)

Scroll down to learn more and for links to publications & white papers.

Asylum Crisis at the Border

2019-present

Based on more than 230 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 in a space of struggle, and effectively disseminate information on US asylum.

Partners 2020-2022: Al Otro Lado, Innovation Law Lab, Templo Embajadores de Jesus, Espacio Migrante

Related Publications & Reports:

Scholarly Publications:
“Exit as Care: How Motherhood Mediates Women’s Exodus from Mexico and Central America” in Violence against Women
Team research briefs from community-based fieldwork (2021):
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)
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 more than 150 in-depth interviews with deported men and women in Tijuana, we examine the implications of deportation for families and the ways that people who are “banished” resist.

Partners: Casa del Migrante Tijuana, Casa Madre Assunta, Padre Chava, Otros Dreamers en Acción, Puente TJ United

Related Publications & Reports:

Scholarly Publications:
“Forced out of Fatherhood: How Men Strive to Parent Post-Deportation” in Social Problems (by Abigail Andrews and Fátima Khayar Cámara)
Book in progress: Banished Men: Incarceration and life after US removal
Undergraduate Reports based on original fieldwork (2020):
“Documenting ICE and Police Abuse During Deportation“

Binational Education & Student Inclusion

2016-2020

In 2021, the MMFRP partnered with on-campus equity organizations to understand how UCSD could improve Latinx student inclusion.

Final report: “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.

Team research brief from 2021 community-based fieldwork:
Barriers to Belonging: Latinx Students at UCSD (with UCSD Raza Resource Centro & Office for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion)
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.