The following University of California, Davis, experts on immigration policy are available to speak to the news media.

Immigration policy and the economy

Giovanni Peri, professor of economics at UC Davis, studies immigration’s effect on the economy. He is also the director of the “Interdisciplinary Migration Cluster” at UC Davis, a network of faculty in various disciplines researching immigration. He is co-author of “Overhauling the Temporary Work Visa System,” a publication of The Hamilton Project, an initiative of the Brookings Institution. He wrote an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal in February detailing how comprehensive immigration reform could greatly improve the economy, partly by keeping foreign scientists and engineers in the country to conduct important research and create jobs. He wrote a piece in the Los Angeles Times in June: http://tinyurl.com/mussz2w . His research is further detailed at his site: http://economics.ucdavis.edu/people/gperi/site. Contact:  gperi@ucdavis.edu.

Immigration policy and civil rights

Kevin Johnson, dean and the Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicano/a Studies at the UC Davis School of Law, is one of the nation’s leading immigration law scholars. This week, he wrote an essay on the President's proposed immigration action for The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/11/18/constitutional-limits-of-presidential-action-on-immigration-12/proposed-executive-orders-would-continue-focus-on-immigration-priorities.His research focuses on immigration law and civil rights, and he can speak to the ways in which changes in immigration law and policy impact the civil rights of citizens and immigrants. He was a member of then-candidate Obama’s Immigration Policy Group, where he assisted in formulating immigration law and policy positions for the Obama campaign. Johnson was one of the attorneys who represented the State Bar of California before the California Supreme Court in the matter of Sergio Garcia, an undocumented immigrant who was admitted to practice law. His books include "Immigration Law and the U.S.-Mexico Border," “Opening the Floodgates: Why America Needs to Rethink Its Borders and Immigration Laws” and “The 'Huddled Masses' Myth: Immigration and Civil Rights.” He is co-editor of the influential Immigration Prof blog. Contact: (530) 752-0243, krjohnson@ucdavis.edu.

Immigration policy, criminal law, immigration history and race

Professor Gabriel “Jack” Chin, professor of law, is a prolific and much-cited legal scholar whose interests include immigration law, criminal law and procedure, and race and the law. He can speak to the ways in which criminal law and immigration law intersect, as well as the constitutional implications of immigration policy. Among his many publications, Chin is co-author of “Effective Assistance of Counsel and the Consequences of Guilty Pleas,” an article cited repeatedly by the U.S. Supreme Court in Padilla vs. Kentucky, the case that affirmed the constitutional requirement of defense attorneys to advise noncitizen clients regarding the immigration consequences of criminal conviction. Contact: (530) 752-3112, gjchin@ucdavis.edu.

Immigration policy and public opinion

Brad Jones,  professor of political science, focuses on racial and ethnic politics including Latino voting behavior and Latino public opinion as well as voting behavior more generally. He is also an expert on immigration policy and public opinion regarding immigration.  Finally, he speaks to issues regarding polling and survey methodology. Contact: bsjjones@ucdavis.edu

Immigration policy and race

Professor Rose Cuison Villazor,  professor of law, teaches and writes in the areas of immigration law, race, gender and citizenship. She can talk about how race and equality law relate to immigration policy and how race has affected concepts of citizenship throughout U.S. history.  She can also comment on the intersection of family law and immigration law, including gendered differences in the transmittal of citizenship.  Her scholarly contributions include, "The Undocumented Closet," "Who Should Count as Family? Rethinking Family-Based Immigration Law," “Sanctuary Policies & Immigration Federalism” and “Law & Memory: What Asian American Jurisprudence Teaches Us about Identity and Citizenship.” Contact: (530) 752-4220, rcvillazor@udavis.edu

Immigration, families and health

Assistant professor of sociology Erin Hamilton studies the causes and consequences of migration, focusing on families, child wellbeing, and health, and migration between Central America and Mexico and the United States. Her recent studies examine re-migration intentions among deported fathers in El Salvador, the infant health in migrant-sending communities in Mexico, patterns of health disparities across generations of children in the United States, and family migration decisions from Mexico to the United States. Contact: erhamilton@ucdavis.edu .

Labor and immigration

Philip Martin, professor of agricultural and resource economics, has published extensively on labor, migration, economic development and immigration policy issues. He has testified before Congress, and state and local agencies on these issues, particularly as they relate to agricultural labor. Martin edits Migration News and Rural Migration News, which provide information about global and U.S. migration issues and on the impacts of migration in rural and agricultural areas. Contact: plmartin@ucdavis.edu.

Immigration, Farm Labor and Rural Poverty

Agricultural and resource economics professor Edward Taylor studies migration and its impacts on Pacific Rim countries, specifically Mexico, Central America and Ecuador. His most recent work documents a decline in farm labor supply from rural Mexican households, which has far-reaching implications for U.S. agriculture, immigration policy and the fate of rural communities. He also can talk about the reasons behind the transfer of rural poverty from Mexico to the United States. His research has explored the draw of Mexican immigrants into California, where they have created pockets of poverty throughout the Central Valley. Taylor is also an expert on salary remittances as economic multipliers, how immigration promotes survival in native villages and other economic issues triggered by immigration. He co-wrote, with UC Davis Professor Philip Martin and Urban Institute researcher Michael Fix, the book, "The New Rural Poverty." Contact:  taylor@primal.ucdavis.edu.