2025 Borders and Migration Workshop

The 2025 Borders and Migration Workshop will be co-hosted by the University of Houston and Texas A&M University. All sessions will take place October 3 and 4, 2025 in the Bates Law Building, University of Houston. 

This workshop will bring together scholars working on the political, social, and economic dimensions of borders and migration.

Organized by Tobias Heinrich (University of Houston, Department of Political Science), Benjamin Helms (Texas A&M University, Bush School of Government and Public Service, Department of International Affairs), and Pablo M. Pinto (University of Houston, Hobby School of Public Affairs).

Program

 

Friday, Oct.3 

 

8:15 AM 

 

Breakfast and Welcome
Heritage Room 201 (Bates Building) 

09:00 AM

 

Paper 1:  Social Spending, Immigrant Inclusion, and Immigration Openness: An Embedded Liberal Migration Trilemma? (David Bearce and Andrew Hart)
Presenter: David Bearce
Discussant: Jim Hollifield

09:30 AM

 

Paper 2: Depopulation paradox? Exploring the impact of depopulation risk on immigration policy preferences (Junghyun Lim)
Presenter: Junghyun Lim
Discussants: Ling Zhu, Tobias Heinrich

10:00 AM

 

Paper 3: Commerce and Campaigns: The Local Roots of Immigration and Trade Messaging in U.S. Presidential Elections (Thomas Flaherty, Duy Trinh, Changlip Kim,
and Olivia Hundley)
Presenter: Thomas Flaherty
Discussants: Pablo Pinto, Hannah Alarian

10:30 AM 

   Break

10:50 AM

 

Paper 4: The Price of Dignity: Measuring Migrants’ Metaperceptions using Behavioral Games (Yang-Yang Zhou, Margaret E. Peters, Daniel Rojas, and Cybele Kappos)
Presenter: Maggie Peters
Discussant: Pia Orrenius

11:20 AM 

 

Paper 5: Who Deserves to Belong? Public Opinion and U.S. Naturalization Decisions (Juliana K. Mucci, Hannah Alarian and Andrew S. Rosenberg)
Presenter: Hannah Alarian
Discussants: Maggie Peters, Lydia Tiede

11:50 AM 

 

Paper 6: Forms of Exclusion (Sam Chapa)
Presenter: Sam Chapa
Discussants: Ben Helms, Junghyun Lim

12:20 PM 

  Lunch

1:50 PM 

 

Paper 7: Domestic Opposition as Messengers for International Organizations (Yoshiharu Kobayashi and Tobias Heinrich)
Presenter: Tobias Heinrich
Discussants: David Carter

2:20 PM 

 

Paper 8: Trust Or Fortify? Border Walls in International Relations (Michael Kenwick, Gino Pauselli and Beth Simmons)
Presenter: Michael Kenwick
Discussant: Thomas Flaherty)

3:10 PM

 

Paper 9: Consistent or Compartmentalized? The Political
Belief Systems of Dual
Citizens Across National Contexts (Eroll Kuhn and Kaitlin Alper)
Presenter: Eroll Kuhn
Discussants: Sam Chapa, Michael Kistner

3:40 PM 

 

Immigration Update
Presenter: Pia Orrenius
Moderator: Pablo Pinto

4:10 PM

  Daily Wrap-Up

4:30 PM - 6:30 PM 

  Optional: Happy Hour
Drinks at Axelrad (1517 Alabama Street)

Saturday, October 4

8:15 AM 

Breakfast and Announcements
Heritage Room 201 (Bates Building)

09:00 AM

Paper 10: From Barriers to Abuse: Border Hardening and Torture (Beth Simmons and Gino Pauselli)
Presenter: Beth Simmons
Discussant: Soyoung Lee

09:30 AM

Paper 11: How Historical Border Institutions Shape Contemporary Mobility Patterns (David Carter and Dihan Shi)
Presenter: David Carter
Discussant: Dan Altman

10:00 AM

Paper 12: Racial Bias in Policy, Not Public Opinion: The Paradox of Border Walls and Non-White Refugee Arrivals (Andrew S. Rosenberg and Nazli Avdan)
Presenter: Nazli Avdan
Discussant: Trent Ollerenshaw

10:30 AM

Break

10:50 AM

Paper 13: International Migrant Networks and Global Conflict (Ben Helms, David Leblang and Philip Potter)
Presenter: Ben Helms
Discussants: Carlo Horz, Michael Soules

11:20 AM

Paper 14:  Global Migration Governance: A Rationalist Approach (Jim Hollifield  and Hiroki Takeuchi)
Presenter: Jim Hollifield
Discussant: Eroll Kuhn

11:50 AM

Paper 15: Influence from Abroad: Activism and Repression of Dissidents Across Borders (Carlo Horz and Jessica S. Sun)
Presenter: Carlo Horz
Discussants: David Bearce, Alexandra Chinchilla

12:20PM

Lunch

1:20 PM

Paper 16: For the Land Itself? Disentangling Motives in Territorial Conflicts (Dan Altman and Kathleen E. Powers)
Presenter: Dan Altman
Discussant: Beth Simmons

1:50 PM

Paper 17: The Making of National Interest (Soyoung Lee)
Presenter: Soyoung Lee
Discussant: Nazli Avdan, Hein Goemans

2:20 PM 

Paper 18: Education and Territorial Claims in South America (Hein Goemans, Hope Marsh, and Blair Tinker)
Presenter: Hein Goemans
Discussant: Michael Kenwick

3:00 PM 

Closing Remarks

Location

The meeting will take place at Bates Building in UH main campus. Please proceed to Room 201, located on the second floor of the building. 

Parking

Please use Elgin Street Garage.