Irene Bloemraad (Ph.D. Harvard; M.A. McGill) studies the nexus between immigration and the political system. She is the author of Becoming a Citizen: Incorporating Immigrants and Refugees in the United States and Canada (University of California Press, 2006), which argues that the United States’ lack of general integration policies has led to lower levels of citizenship among immigrants in the United States compared to Canada, and poorer outcomes in political incorporation. Professor Bloemraad’s work suggests that any effective immigration policy must examine not just border control, but also integration and settlement policies. Bloemraad is also the co-editor of Civic Hopes and Political Realities (RSF Press, 2008) about the civic inequalities that arise from unequal voice and visibility for immigrant organizations. More recently, she co-edited Rallying for Immigrant Rights (University of California Press, 2011), the first book-length treatment of the 2006 immigration rallies that brought millions of people into the streets to march against legislation criminalizing undocumented status and for greater rights for those without papers and the foreign population more generally. Current work looks at the relative effects of multiculturalism policy for various socio-political outcomes, the prevalence of immigrant nonprofits in suburbs and central cities, and the political socialization of people living in mixed legal status families.
Dr. Bloemraad was the Thomas Garden Barnes Chair and director of the Canadian Studies Program from 2012 to 2023.
