WASHINGTON, DC – The Im/migrant Well-Being Scholar Collaborative (“the Collaborative”) proudly announces a new scholar affiliate, Dr. Nancy Hiemstra. She is an associate professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Stony Brook University on Long Island, New York, with interests in global migration, immigration enforcement practices, detention and deportation, gender and race, and Latin American borders and mobility.
Dr. Hiemstra’s research examines the consequences of United States immigration enforcement policies within, at, and beyond U.S. borders, with particular attention to detention, deportation, and immigration policing practices throughout the Americas. Hiemstra also studies the relationship between immigration, race, and national identity; deterrence and security logics behind punitive policies; and anti-immigrant narratives.
She is co-author, with Dr. Deirdre Conlon, of Immigration Detention Inc: The Big Business of Locking Up Migrants (2025), and author of Detain and Deport: The Chaotic U.S. Immigration Enforcement Regime (2019). Her work has appeared widely in geography, migration studies, and interdisciplinary social science journals, and she has written for or been quoted in pieces for major media publications including Mother Jones, USAToday, The Atlantic, and Newsweek.
Dr. Hiemstra expressed her excitement for joining the Collaborative, stating, “I am eager to contribute to the important work of the Collaborative by sharing my research and knowledge about the lived and long-term consequences of immigration and border policies.”
The Im/migrant Well-Being Scholar Collaborative is delighted to welcome Dr. Hiemstra to our community of scholar affiliates that conduct multidisciplinary, empirical research on immigration. The Collaborative promotes scholars’ work and translates findings for use by policymakers and community organizations.