Scholar Spotlight: Tom K. Wong
This week, we highlight Tom K. Wong, who worked with civic organizations UnitedWeDream, Center for American Progress, and the National Immigration Law Center to produce new research on DACA recipients this past week. This is exactly the kind of engaged scholarship we celebrate at SSN. You can read the results of this new study here.
Tom K. Wong
Professor of Sociology, Washington University in St. Louis
SSN Key Findings: Why Immigration Reform with a Path to Citizenship Faces an Uphill Climb in Congress
Wong is an associate professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego and recently served as an advisor to the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders under the Obama administration. He is also Director of the International Migration Studies Program minor. Wong's research focuses on the politics of immigration, citizenship, and migrant "illegality." As these issues have far-reaching implications, his work also exploresthe links between immigration, race and ethnicity, and the politics of identity.
His first book, Rights, Deportation, and Detention in the Age of Immigration Control (Stanford University Press, 2015), analyzes the immigration control policies of twenty-five Western immigrant-receiving democracies. In analyzing over 30,000 roll call votes on immigration-related legislation in Congress since 2005, his second book, The Politics of Immigration: Partisanship, Demographic Change, and American National Identity (Oxford University Press, 2016), represents the most comprehensive analysis to date on the contemporary politics of immigration in the United States.
Wong's research has been used by policymakers both in the U.S. and in Mexico, as well as by organizations that serve immigrant communities. Wong and his work has been covered by ABC News/Univision, Fusion, NPR, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Yahoo News, and by Univision in Mexico.
He is also on the leadership committee of the California Immigrant Policy Center, the board of the New American Leaders Project, and recently served on the advisory council of Unbound Philanthropy. Wong also consults on campaigns and elections, specializing in mobilizing low-propensity voters of color and immigrant communities.