Migration

We approach migration with a racial justice lens, illuminating the ways racism and colonialism shape human movement around the globe.

“Migration is an expression of the human aspiration for dignity, safety and a better future. It is part of the social fabric, part of our very make-up as a human family.”
Ban Ki-moon

Articles & Submissions

Report for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, 186th Period of Sessions,
Public Hearing on the Situation of human mobility from an ethnic-racial approach

September 2019, African migrants stranded in the southeastern Mexican state of Chiapas protested Mexican authorites

Reckoning with Racism Against Black Migrants in Mexico

Submission to Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Thematic Hearing on Protection of persons in human mobility in the United States, Mexico and the North of Central America

Haitians Have Been Pushed North by a Series of Racist Laws: Their Story Began Long Before the Bridge

Connecting Race and Empire: What Critical Race Theory Offers Outside the U.S. Legal Context

Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on Migration

Haitian Migration through the Western Hemisphere: A Racial (In)Justice Analysis

Race, Tech & Borders

Technology is playing an increasingly important role in mediating migrants’ access to human rights. This access is predicated on concepts of race, ethnicity, national origin and citizenship status.

To read the Former UN Special Rapporteur’s Report, our Fact Sheet, and to view a recorded conversation on the interplay of race, tech and borders, visit our racial justice initiative: Race & Human Rights Reimagined.

Take a Closer Look

Borders, the Pandemic & Human Rights

From traditional borders to race/ethnicity, sexual orientation/gender identity and disability status as borders — our 2022 symposium mapped the unseen boundaries in human rights and international law.⁠

Explore Our Border Symposium

Climate Migration as Reparations

As part of our work on migration, race and climate justice, we are contributing to ongoing conversations around the need for reparations — not only for colonialism and slavery, but also for climate harms which are disproportionately caused by the Global North and disproportionately harm marginalized people and nations of the Global South.

Learn More

Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity & Migration

We joined the Williams Institute in convening diverse experts to explore how research can support the policy and advocacy priorities for LGBTQI+ refugees and asylum seekers — especially those facing intersecting marginalization.

Watch Webinar Read Report

Migration Tech Monitor

We support the work of the Migration Tech Monitor, a collective of journalists, filmmakers, academics and communities. Their mission is to monitor the use of surveillance technologies including AI and automation to screen, track, and make decisions about people crossing borders. The Monitor highlights the far-reaching ways these technological interfaces shape people’s lives and impact their human rights.

Technological Testing Grounds is their report detailing migration management experiments using tech. It is based on over 40 interviews with refugees and people on the move, exploring the systematic factors that create migration management experiments.

Visit the Migration Tech Monitor Site