I'm a scholar who researches, writes, and teaches on the politics of immigration and security.
Currently, I'm associate professor of international politics at the University of Lincoln, UK. I have a (award-winning) book on immigration politics in the U.S. border state of Arizona: Securing Borders, Securing Power (2022, Columbia University Press). I am currently leading an international, interdisciplinary research project funded by the British Academy: “Colonialism and Migration in Global Perspective.” I've also been involved in the project Seeing “Illegal” Immigrants: State Monitoring and Political Rationality, based at the University of Edinburgh.
I've researched why politicians treat immigration as a security issue, how authorities make policy toward irregular immigration, and the ways politicians respond to right-wing populist demands on immigration. My research has appeared in journals such as Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, and Journal of Global Security Studies. I teach politics and international relations, with emphasis on my areas of expertise in security and immigration politics.
I come to academia from a professional background in U.S. politics. In my old career, I was a speechwriter for the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security and the Governor of Arizona.