I study how intimate relationship decision-making and family formation processes are structured by U.S. immigration policies at the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality.
My dissertation, "Paper Trails to the Altar: The Impact of U.S. Immigration Policies on Asian Migrants' Intimate Relationships," examines how Asian migrants navigate intimate relationships when marriage represents both genuine partnership and legal security. This research reveals how structural power operates within the most intimate spaces of everyday life. Specifically, I explore how legal status shapes intimate relationships across the full legal status continuum, moving beyond scholarship focused on undocumented/citizen couples to expand empirical scholarship on mixed-status relationships.
Drawing on 90 in-depth interviews with Asian migrants, their intimate partners, and community stakeholders across New York City and Seattle, I demonstrate how local implementation of federal policies produces starkly different everyday realities across divergent local contexts, providing insights applicable to understanding large-scale policy implementation more broadly.
I am currently conducting fieldwork in New York City, interviewing Asian migrants, their intimate partners, and relevant community stakeholders.
Before starting my Ph.D. in Sociology at the University at Albany, I received an M.A. in Asian Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and a B.A. in Sociology with a minor in Criminal Justice from Gonzaga University.