Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies

Shelby O’Neill is a postdoctoral research associate at the Watson School of International and Public Affairs. His research focuses on US immigration policy and its long-reaching impacts on migratory communities. He is currently writing an ethnography of migration from a small village in Guanajuato, Mexico. His work aims to center the experiences of migrants and their families as they navigate life in the US, some with temporary documentation, others undocumented. He studies their reasons for migrating, their relationship to home, their workdays and aspirations, while drawing attention to the policies that shape their lives. He holds a PhD in Sociology from Princeton University.