Research

I am Professor of Economics at the University of California, Merced. Trained in both economics and law, I study how public policy shapes the economic and social outcomes of immigrant families and their children. My current research examines immigration enforcement, the immigration courts, asylum, legal status programs such as DACA and TPS, and high-skilled immigration, with a focus on schooling, health, fertility, family structure and public safety. Earlier work addressed remittances, temporary employment and informal labor markets in Spain and Latin America, where I maintain active collaborations.

My research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, Arnold Ventures, the William T. Grant Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Hewlett Foundation, among others.

Career

I joined UC Merced in 2019 after twenty years at San Diego State University, where I chaired the Department of Economics from 2015 to 2018. I have held visiting appointments at the Public Policy Institute of California, the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and the Universidad de Sevilla.

Service to the Profession

I am a Research Fellow at IZA, CReAM and GLO, a faculty affiliate of the Berkeley Population Center, and a policy expert at the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute. I am Associate Editor of the Spanish Economic Review and have served as Co-editor of the Review of Economics of the Household. I serve on a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine consensus committee on forced migration and on the Advisory Council of the Americas Center at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and I am scientific program chair of the 2027 Simposio of the Spanish Economic Association.

Policy Engagement

I have testified before the California Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and contributed to a scholars' amicus brief on birthright citizenship submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court. In Spain, I am a member of the technical working group on migration of the National Office of Foresight and Strategy.

Honors and Mentoring

I am a past President of the American Society of Hispanic Economists and a recipient of its Outstanding Achievement Award. I served as Western Representative of the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (CSWEP) and was a Border Fulbright García-Robles Scholar. In addition to advising doctoral students, I mentor junior scholars through programs of the William T. Grant Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation and the Institute for Humane Studies.

I am a native of Sevilla, Spain, and the mother of two.