Rebecca Hamlin

My research is focused on law and immigration politics, and I have a particular interest in migrant categorization and the concept of a refugee. My published work has examined how the United States and other liberal democracies use administrative agencies and courts to adjudicate migration and citizenship questions, and the political responses to judicial involvement in migration matters. I have published articles on the history of American asylum policy, comparative Refugee Status Determination systems, the politics of migration and the media in the UK, and the blending of international criminal law and immigration law to remove suspected war criminals and human rights violators. I have three ongoing projects at the moment: (1) a joint project with Jamie Rowen and Luz Maria Sanchez Duque on Colombians in the US and the concept of diasporic peacebuilding, (2) a historical project on 1924 looking at the intersection between immigration restrictionism and the expansion of Native American citizenship, (3) a project on the concept of a ‘refugee-producing country.’ 

My first book, Let me be a Refugee was published by Oxford University Press in 2014: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/let-me-be-a-refugee-978019937331...

My second book, Crossing: How We Label and React to People on the Move was published with Stanford University Press in May of 2021. https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=31446

I would be very pleased to work with graduate students who have an interest in anything related to migration and borders, or comparative law and courts. I have co-authored with graduate students in the past, and am open to doing so again. Along with Prof. Blinder, I coordinate the campus Migration Working Group, which is open to all graduate students. Please feel free to contact me with questions about our graduate program!