Migration Studies Commons^™

La Maquiladora De Sueños Is Where The “American Dream” Ends: The Socio-Cultural Impact Of Hai(T)Ijuanenses In The United States-México Borderlands, Pedro Aleman Perfecto

Master's Theses

Historically, Tijuana has been the destination for migrants who have been left out from the United States, Mexico, and the rest of the world. The city is at the epicenter of globalization where many transit, leave, and arrive. Sometimes considered a “third country” due to its binational and bicultural identity with its sister city, San Diego, California. The growing number of Haitian refugees that arrived in Tijuana in the mid 2010s to seek asylum in the United States overwhelmed the city’s infrastructure and left the Haitian community vulnerable, yet it created new opportunities and reshaped new identities in the region. …

Central Americans At A Crossroads: Asylum Seekers’ Testimonios Of Mental Health After Detention And Family Separation, Corie E. Schwabenland Garcia

Master's Theses

Though Central American asylum seekers are presently hypervisible in the U.S. consciousness, this population continues to be inadequately understood or cared for. Discussion of this population often presents them as a helpless and damaged population, in need of saving, fixing, or shelter -- beyond their trauma, they cease to exist. This qualitative study utilizes first-person testimonio methodology to understand the psychological experiences of Central American migrants seeking asylum in the United States, the stressors they face, and the mental health support that can and should be provided to them. Their stories speak to a space of sociopolitical precarity in the …

Effective And Responsive Implementation Of German Asylum And Resettlement Procedures For Syrian Refugees From 2015 To 2018, Nourhan Morsy Abdelmeguid

Theses and Dissertations

The refugee and migrant crises are one of Europe’s most contentious and divisive issues. In particular, Germany is one of the countries most involved in the Syrian refugee crisis. The number of Syrians seeking refuge in Germany is substantial, and it hosts over one million refugees. Germany is also a key participant and stakeholder in the European Union asylum policies. Thus, this thesis examines the responsiveness and effectiveness of asylum proceedings under the crisis-induced from 2015 to 2018. Germany temporarily suspended the Dublin regulation by processing asylum applications despite stopping by other EU countries as a humanitarian response to accommodate …

Captivity As Crisis Response: Migration, The Pandemic, And Forms Of Confinement, Eleanor Paynter

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

During Europe’s recent “refugee crisis,” Italy responded to increased migrant arrivals by sea with progressively restrictive border and asylum policies. While crisis-response restrictions are perhaps unsurprising, those implemented since 2014 have produced a set of situations that appear, at least initially, paradoxical: Following Interior Minister Matteo Salvini’s 2018 “Closed Ports” campaign, independently-operated rescue ships continue to be blocked from disembarking the migrants they have rescued. At the same time, asylum officials have rejected claims for protection at higher rates, while border officials deport a minority of those whose claims are rejected. Thus, under the guise of crisis management, some migrants …

It Is Time To Get Back To Basics On The Border, Donna Coltharp

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

A Is For Asylum Seeker / A De Asilo [Toc], Rachel Ida Buff, Alejandra Oliva

Sociology

A clear and concise A to Z of keywords that echo our current human rights crisis

As millions are forced to leave their nations of origin due to political, economic, and environmental peril, rising racism and xenophobia has led to increasingly harsh policies. A mass-mediated political circus obscures both histories of migration and longstanding definitions of words for people on the move, fomenting widespread linguistic confusion. Under this circus tent, there is no regard for history, legal advocacy, or jurisprudence. Yet in a world where the differences between “undocumented migrant” and “asylum seeker” can mean life or death, words have …

Review Of Refuge Beyond Reach: How Rich Democracies Repel Asylum Seekers By David Scott Fitzgerald, Wolfe Padawer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Review of Refuge Beyond Reach: How Rich Democracies Repel Asylum Seekers by David Scott FitzGerald, Oxford University Press (2019).

Risking Rescue: The Politics Of Precarity In Mediterranean Crossing, Eleanor Paynter

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Over the course of Europe’s recent refugee crisis, the role of Search and Rescue (SAR) has changed dramatically, first forming a critical part of (inter)national responses to the crisis, and now occupying an antagonistic position, as countries have closed their ports to NGO-operated vessels and the European Commission (EC) has ceased naval Search and Rescue operations. As a result, migrants crossing the Central Mediterranean face different and increased risks, including dying at sea, being held by European authorities, or being apprehended closer to Libya and sent to a Libyan detention camp.

In response to these shifts, groups that continue SAR …

A Life Absolutely Bare? A Reflection On Resistance By Irregular Refugees Against Fingerprinting As State Biopolitical Control In The European Union, Ziang Zhou

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

In a legally transitory category, irregular refugees- experience a double precariousness. They risk their lives to travel across treacherous seas to Europe for a better life. However, upon the long-awaited embarkation on the European land, they are exposed once again to the precariousness of the asylum application. They are “powerless”, “with no rights” and “to be sacrificed” as Giorgio Agamben and Hannah Arendt suggested in their respective understanding of a “bare life”, la nuda vita. In light of the administrative difficulties in managing asylum application, the European Union introduced the “Dublin Agreement”, which stipulates mandatory biometric data collection for …

Syrian Refugees In Europe: Migration Dynamics And Political Challenges, Leila Hudson

New England Journal of Public Policy

After 2011 the Syrian conflict caused growing numbers of residents to flee to escape escalating regime brutality and deteriorating economic conditions. In addition to a population of up to eight million internally displaced residents, at least four million Syrians fled to neighboring Arab states and Turkey. Conditions in those countries ranged from desperate to uncomfortable, and between 2014 and 2016 up to a million refugees continued on to seek asylum in Europe. In addition to the trauma of displacement the refugees experienced, the migration left traces on the host and transit countries in the form of economic and infrastructural challenges, …

Depression, Anxiety, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder And A History Of Pervasive Gender-Based Violence Among Women Asylum Seekers Who Have Undergone Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A Retrospective Case Review, Hazel Lever, Deborah Ottenheimer, Jimmitti Teysir, Elizabeth Singer, Holly G. Atkinson

Publications and Research

We sought to evaluate the frequency of anxiety, depression, PTSD, and any experiences of violence in women who had undergone Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) and were seeking asylum in the United States. We undertook a retrospective qualitative descriptive study of FGM/C cases seen in an asylum clinic over a 2-year period. Standardized questionnaires provided quantitative scores for anxiety, depression and PTSD. Clients’ personal and physician medical affidavits were analyzed for experiences of violence. Of the 13 cases, anxiety and depression were exhibited by 92 and 100% of women, while all seven women screened for PTSD had symptoms. Qualitative analysis revealed …

“It’S A Kind Of Killing:” Afghan Refugees In Shadow Of The Eu Fear They’Re Forgotten, Kyle Mackie

Capstones

For Karimi Wahab, an Afghan refugee currently accommodated at a center for asylum seekers in Sjenica, Serbia, watching refugees from other war-torn countries get moved along into the European Union has become routine. Afghans make up nearly two thirds of Serbia’s stranded migrants and refugees. In Sjenica, it’s been more than a year since any Afghan got onto the list maintained by Hungarian immigration authorities that allows 10 migrants to enter the country from Serbia each business day. Compared to Syrians and Iraqis, Afghans have also been granted asylum less frequently across the EU, on average, every year since 2014. …

Judge Posner's Road Map For Convention Against Torture Claims When Central American Governments Cannot Protect Citizens Against Gang Violence, Steven H. Schulman

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

Immigrating While Trans: The Disproportionate Impact Of The Prostitution Ground Of Inadmissibility And Other Provisions Of The Immigration And Nationality Act On Transgender Women, Luis Medina

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

As’Lem: An Ethical Diagnosis Of The Contemporary, Miriam Ticktin

Publications and Research

In recent scholarly literature, refugees have proliferated: they are the “political figures par excellence” and “border concepts”; they are understood through their infrastructures, both camps and laws; and they are approached as suffering subjects. But Fassin, Wilhelm-Solomon, and Segatti have a different approach: they understand asylum—or as’lem, the term used by asylum seekers in South Africa—as a form of life.

Mistakes In Identity: Sexual Orientation And Credibility In The Asylum Process, Michael Carl Budd

Archived Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the prejudice that exists on the part of decision-makers responsible for determining refugee status and adjudicating asylum claims in jurisdictions that accept claims based on sexual orientation. An analysis of case law from both common law and civil law jurisdictions uncovers the negative impact of judicial stereotypes about sexuality on refugees and asylum-seekers. It follows the increasing importance placed on proving the genuineness of the claimants' professed sexual identity that has coincided with an increased emphasis on credibility, a trend that has heightened the impact of decision-makers' biases regarding sexuality. In addition to analyzing case law, the …