U.S. Immigration Politics in the Age of Trump

Event Date: 

Thursday, June 1, 2017 - 12:30pm

Event Location: 

  • The Lane Room (Ellison 3824)

Tom K. Wong
Assistant Professor of Political Science, UC San Diego

Tom K. Wong is an assistant professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego and recently served as an advisor to the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (WHIAAPI). He is also Director of the International Migration Studies Program Minor. His research focuses on the politics of immigration, citizenship, and migrant "illegality." As these issues have far-reaching implications, his work also explores the links between immigration, race and ethnicity, and the politics of identity. 

His first book, Rights, Deportation, and Detention in the Age of Immigration Control, analyzes the immigration control policies of twenty-five Western immigrant-receiving democracies (Stanford University Press, 2015). His second book, The Politics of Immigration: Partisanship, Demographic Change, and American National Identity (Oxford University Press, 2016), is due out in December—in analyzing 31,193 roll call votes on immigration-related legislation in Congress since 2005, the book represents the most comprehensive analysis to date on the contemporary politics of immigration in the United States.

?Wong's research has been used by policymakers both in the U.S. and in Mexico, as well as by organizations that serve immigrant communities. He is the lead researcher on one of the first nationwide surveys of undocumented youth. He also created the CIR Blog, which predicted support and opposition to comprehensive immigration reform legislation among all 535 current members of Congress. Wong and his work has been covered by ABC News/Univision, Fusion, NPR, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Yahoo News, and by Univision in Mexico.

?He is also on the leadership committee of the California Immigrant Policy Center, the board of the New American Leaders Project, and on the advisory council of Unbound Philanthropy. Wong also consults on campaigns and elections, specializing in mobilizing low-propensity voters of color and immigrant communities.