The latest on im/migrant well-being
It’s been an eventful first half of the year for the Im/migrant Well-Being Scholar Collaborative!
Scholars have continued to make their research accessible to the public, sharing their insights in outlets such as the Latino News Network, Colorado Newsline, France 24, and Telemundo. We also hosted an impactful researcher safety planning workshop with over 80 community members in partnership with Sanctuary of the South.
We welcomed 4 new scholar affiliates — Dr. Estefanía Castañeda Pérez, Dr. Deirdre Conlon, Dr. Nancy Hiemstra, and Dr. Marianna Poyares — who are doing critical research on issues such as uncovering abuses at the U.S.-Mexico border, surveillance and migrant data extractivism, and the economic incentives within the modern immigration detention system.
We have also wrapped edits on our special issue of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, which will be published later this year. Kudos to all of our authors who also presented at the “IWB2025: A Nexus for Research & Policy” conference and to our Research Development Lead, Liz Ventura Molina, who served as Managing Editor for the issue.
Thank you so much for all your work, and please feel free to reach out if we can support you in any capacity! Hope you all have a productive and restorative summer!
– The Im/migrant Well-Being Scholar Collaborative Steering Committee: Dr. Elizabeth Aranda, Dr. Elizabeth Vaquera, and Trey Johnston
New Publications by Scholar Affiliates
Latino News Network – “Border Communities Know ICE’s Impunity All Too Well,” by Estefanía Castañeda Pérez, March 30, 2026
In this poignant op-ed, Scholar Affiliate Dr. Estefanía Castañeda Pérez leverages her academic research to shine a spotlight on how immigration agents have operated with near-total impunity at the border for decades with deadly consequences. She calls on legislators to exercise greater scrutiny over the funding of the Department of Homeland Security, arguing: “The struggle of citizens killed in cities like Minneapolis is the struggle of the U.S.–Mexico borderlands, and vice versa.”
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies – “Categorical Misalignments in Immigration Systems: Spillovers, Omissions, Liminality, and the Production of Inequality” by Dr. Cecilia Menjívar, January 23, 2026
Building on her keynote address at the Sussex Centre for Migration Research for the 11th SCMR-JEMS International Conference, Advisory Board Member Dr. Cecilia Menjívar examines how immigration classification systems create categorial misalignments or situations in which im/migrants “do not fit” the state-created categories that determine eligibility for relief. As Dr. Menjívar argues, these misalignments tend to have disproportionate impacts: “As bureaucracies implement state classifications to determine who fits admission categories and can access resources and social rights, experiences that do not conform to state definitions create categorical misalignment – overflowing categorical boundaries, falling through the cracks, or facing institutional indifference. These misalignments particularly affect socially vulnerable individuals whose lives do not meet the bureaucratic standards designed to admit the fewest number of people possible.”
International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care – “Sociodemographic correlates of postmigration traditional medicine practices among Mexican immigrants in Southern Arizona” by Rebecca M. Crocker, Daniel E. Martínez, Adriana Maldonado, and David O. Garcia, May 28, 2026
Scholar Affiliate Dr. Daniel E. Martínez and his co-authors examine how the healing traditions of Mexican Traditional Medicine play an important role Mexicans’ approach to health and wellness.
Public Relations Review – “Frontline voices of care: How community health workers cultivate relationships“ by Brooke Fisher Liu, Lahne Mattas-Curry, Anita Atwell Seate, Carina Zelaya, David Liendo Uriona, Christina Getrich, and Cynthia Baur, June 2026
Scholar Affiliate Dr. Christina Getrich and her co-authors investigate public relations in the non-traditional settings of Community Health Workers who engaged and sustained relationships with Latino communities during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Im/migrant Lives Podcast
On the most recent episode of the Im/migrant Lives podcast, Dr. Elizabeth Aranda and Dr. Joanna Dreby discuss the long-lasting, generational effects of increased immigration enforcement on young adult U.S. citizens.
Tune in to the full episode here: https://rss.com/podcasts/immigrant-lives/2843668/
Awards and Kudos
University of Wisconsin-Madison Institute for Research on Poverty – “2026–2027 Visiting Poverty Scholars”
Scholar Affiliate Dr. Blanca A. Ramirez was selected as a Visiting Poverty Scholar for 2026-2027. She will be visiting the Center for Population, Inequality, and Policy at UC-Irvine.
University of Arizona – “SGDE Faculty Affiliate Daniel E. Martínez promoted to full professor,” May 1, 2025
Scholar Affiliate Dr. Daniel E. Martínez was promoted to full professor at the University of Arizona. Dr. Martínez was also awarded the 2026 SBS Borderlands Research Award in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Arizona and selected along with Dr. Sarah P. Lockhart to be the new associate editor of the Journal on Migration and Human Security.
Social Anatomy of a Deportation Regime – “Critical Migration and Deportation Studies Conference | Baruch College, August 6th from 10AM-6PM”
Scholar Affiliate Dr. Lorena Avila Jaimes serves on the organizing committee for the upcoming Critical Migration and Deportation Studies Conference. This conference invites contributions that advance Critical Migration and Deportation Studies as an interdisciplinary field examining the legal, bureaucratic, spatial, and technological infrastructures that produce deportability and regulate mobility while also centering the lived realities of im/migrants.
IWB Scholar Affiliates in the News
Colorado Newsline – “Republicans Applaud Immigrant Detention — Until It’s in Their Backyards” by Ariana Figueroa, April 6, 2026
Dr. Deirdre Conlon argues in response to heightened immigrant detention: “The people who are detained become commodities out of which revenue is generated, that not only the private provider makes money off, but then the county government becomes dependent on.”
Telemundo 49 Tampa – “Sin importar si son ciudadanos o no, migrantes viven con miedo según estudio de USF / Regardless of Whether They Are Citizens or Not, Migrants Live in Fear According to a USF Study” January 27, 2026
Collaborative Co-Founder and Steering Committee Member Dr. Elizabeth Aranda was interviewed by Telemundo to discuss the findings of the University of South Florida Im/migrant Well-Being Research Center’s report, “Behind Immigration Policies: The Current Realities Facing Immigrant Parents and US-Citizen Children in Florida.”
France 24 – “‘War on immigrants’: Dr. Castañeda deconstructs politisation/militarisation of US immigration policy” by Nadia Massih, January 9, 2026
In the aftermath of the deadly ICE shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minnesota, Dr. Ernesto Castañeda addresses the militarization of the U.S. immigration enforcement.
The Collaborative on Social Media
The Im/migrant Well-Being Scholar Collaborative produces, “¡Hablemos!,” an interview series that explores the multifaceted nature of immigration studies, advocacy, partnership, and more.
Check out one of our latest features in the series with Scholar Affiliate Dr. Emir Estrada:
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