UCLA
Institute of American Cultures

Leisy Abrego

Title: AssociateProfessor
Department: César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o Studies
Email: abrego@ucla.edu

Current Project:

  • UCLA International Institute; Her research and teaching interests—inspired in great part by her family’s experiences—are in Central American immigration, Latina/o families, the inequalities created by gender, and the production of “illegality” through U.S. immigration laws. More recently, Abrego has been writing about how different subsectors of Latino immigrants internalize immigration policies differently and how this shapes their willingness to make claims in the United States. Her current project examines the day-to-day lives of mixed status families after DACA. Her scholarship analyzing legal consciousness, illegality, and legal violence has garnered numerous national awards. She also dedicates much of her time to supporting and advocating for refugees and immigrants by writing editorials and pro-bono expert declarations in asylum cases.

Available Publications/books:

  • Abrego, L. (2014). Sacrificing families: Navigating laws, labor, and love across borders. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
  • Menjívar, C., Abrego, L., & Schmalzbauer, L. (2016). Immigrant families. Malden: Polity Press.


Tagged: Immigration, Law, Identity/Subjectivity