Reimagining Refuge: California for Just Migrant Futures

Reimagining Refuge: California for Just Migrant Futures brings together leading UC immigration scholars, students, and organizations across California and the US-Mexico border to 1) seed a network of people forging just futures for migrants and 2) conduct an unprecedented, multi-sited, and multi-scalar analysis of the impacts of US treatment of migrants and asylum seekers, by and for California’s im/migrants.

Funding from the UC 2025 Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives program supports two major initiatives, from 2025-2028:

First, the project is building a California-wide community of scholars and practitioners reimagining and practicing just resettlement. Each year from 2025-2028 we are offering small grants to UC faculty, graduate students, undergraduates, community organizers, and artists, to cultivate innovation and cross-sector dialogue. Each year we also hold an annual two-day convening and regular workshops to bring together these groups and reimagine refuge, intellectually, artistically, and practically. The 2025 Convening will take place at UC San Diego from October 17-18, 2025.

Second, PIs Abigail Andrews, Stephanie Canizales, Silvia Rodriguez Vega and Mirian Martínez Aranda are collaborating with immigrant NGOs and UC graduate and undergraduate students to conduct interviews, participant observation, and art workshops with migrant families across California, in detention, at the US-Mexico border, and in Mexico en route to the United States. Researchers are co-designing the study with NGOs and service providers and working with migrants to understand their lived experiences. The study connects California’s major regions and compares practices in California to other sites in the US and beyond. These data will provide a first-of-its kind understanding of the impacts of current US policies and enforcement practices for migrants, with a focus on youth and families. In addition, the study will identify, design, and test humane alternatives to border militarization, detention, and long-term urban limbo.