Yalidy Matos

Within the area of immigration politics and policy, my work argues for immigration’s foundational significance, historically and contemporarily, on American politics.

In my work, I have focused on

• the intersection of geography, place/space, and immigration and argue for the importance of racial legacies in examining state-level immigration laws,
• contextualizing the subfederal proliferation of restrictive immigration policies and the on-the-ground vigilantism against immigrants and people of color,
• how immigration is used and weaponized for political gain and in ways that run counter to American principles,
• the role of perceptions of Latino immigrants, in particular, and how these perceptions influence policy attitudes and political behavior more broadly, and
• the racial attitudes of non-Hispanic white Americans

Invite me to speak

Yalidy is available for speaking engagements on these and other topics

• The history of U.S. immigration laws and policies
• White Americans racial attitudes on immigration
• Latino/a immigration and immigrants
• Her book, Moral and Immoral whiteness in Immigration Politics

Email Yalidy.Matos@rutgers.edu

Check out my work

Publications

• Moral and Immoral Whiteness in Immigration Politics (OUP, 2023)
• “The “American DREAM”: Understanding White American Support for the DREAM Act and Punitive Immigration Policies” in Perspectives on Politics
• “The Politics of Pronouns: How Trump Framed the Ingroup in the 2016 Presidential Election” in Politics, Groups, and Identities
• “In Solidarity: Predicting African American and Black Immigrant Women’s Solidarity with Immigrants” in Politics & Gender
• “Geographies of Exclusion: The Importance of Racial Legacies in Examining State-Level Immigration Laws” in the American Behavioral Scientist
• “Immigration Within the Contemporary Political Discourse” in The Routledge Handbook of Immigration and Crime (pp. 220-235)
• “Priming Legality: Perceptions of Latino and Undocumented Latino Immigrants” in American Politics Research
• Dr. Matos on NPR “Biden speech acknowledges immigration and pathway to citizenship issues.” National Public Radio (NPR; Feb 8)