Team Research on US Immigration Reform
Under the supervision of Prof. Camp two teams of CMC students conducted research during AY 2022-2023 producing two research papers on US immigration reform with Mexico and Latin America.
Roderic Ai Camp
Philip M. McKenna Professor Emeritus of the Pacific Rim
Professor Camp is the Philip McKenna Professor Emeritus of the Pacific Rim at Claremont McKenna College. He serves as a member of the Advisory Board, Mexico Institute, Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, Smithsonian Institution. Camp is a member of the Editorial Board of Mexican Studies and an Advisory Editor, Oxford Research Encylopedia of Latin America. He is a frequent consultant to national and international media, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, and BBC. He is the author of numerous articles and thirty books on Mexico, seven of which have been designated by Choice as outstanding academic books, and five books on Latin America. His most recent publications include: The Politics in Mexico, The Path of a New Democracy(Oxford University Press, 2020); Mexico, What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford University Press, 2017); The Oxford Handbook of Mexican Politics (Oxford University Press, 2012); Mexico, What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford University Press, 2011); Mexican Political Biographies, 1935-2009 (University of Texas Press, 2011); The Metamorphosis of Leadership in a Democratic Mexico (Oxford University Press, 2010). He is the recipient of the Order of the Aztec Eagle from the Mexican Government, the highest honor it can bestow on a foreigner, for his contributions to Mexico.
Team One
Arlo Jay ‘26
Anna Behuniak ‘26
The United States’ historical and present-day injustices towards immigrants from Mexico and Latin America are seen through the complications felt by undocumented immigrants, the assimilation of immigrants, and the asylum process for immigrants. Specifically, this paper consists of three sections: 1) Racism in an Anti-Racist Bill: The Forgotten Quota that Caused Undocumented Immigration 2) The Negative Impacts of Labor and Crime Legislations on the Assimilation of Mexican Communities into the American Mainstream, and 3) The Pandemic and Immigration—A Relationship of Inconsistency and Injustice. In the the first section, the team looks at the causes behind the first Western Hemispheric quota and its effect on immigration across the US-Mexico border. In the second section, they analyzes the consequences of U.S. immigration policy and its contribution to the challenges facing Mexican communities and their ability to assimilate into the American mainstream. Finally, in the third section they cover the current repercussions of immigration policy by providing a historical account of Title 42 and its harmful enactment under both the Trump and Biden administrations.
Luis A. Mendoza ‘25
Team Two
Katherine Lanzalotto ‘25
Jack Barrett ‘25
Fulfilling a fundamental campaign promise, the Trump administration imposed hard restrictions on all types of entry by foreign nationals into the United States. Pursuant to its anti-immigrant platform, the national system of granting asylum status was scaled back drastically, especially for a handful of Latin American states. Primarily working within the bounds of existing policy, the presidency managed to roll back or hinder decades of asylum legislation. From 2015 to 2020 the number of individuals granted asylum fell by more than half while the mechanisms for barring their entry remained the same or based on previous strategies. This paper analyzes the political precedent that allows for the dereliction of the asylum system. First, the team focuses on how the initial mistreatment of Haitian asylum seekers, following the passage of the 1980 Refugee Act, set a foundation for detention and denial strategies that have become integral to rejecting and disincentivizing asylum claims. Next, they give an in-depth analysis of the rise of ‘safe-third country’ policies and their effect on asylum seekers as well as the states that house them. Finally, they examine the Attorney General’s power over the Board of Immigration Appeals as a mechanism which allows the executive branch to alter asylum policy regardless of preexisting legislation.
Ian Akers ‘26