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Irene Bloemraad is the Class of 1951 Professor of Sociology and the founding Director of the Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative, and the Thomas Garden Barnes Chair of Canadian Studies at Berkeley. Beyond campus, she co-directs the Boundaries, Membership and Belonging program at CIFAR and she served as a member of the U.S. National Academies of Sciences committee that reported on the integration of immigrants into American Society.

Bloemraad studies how immigrants become incorporated into political bodies and the consequences of their presence on politics and understandings of membership. Her research stands at the intersection of immigration studies and political sociology, with a strong interdisciplinary (and international) scope.

Media Mentions

January 28, 2022: U.S. couple says pandemic, politics pushed them north to Canada (CBC News)

November 13, 2020: More Green Card Holders Are Becoming U.S. Citizens (The Wall Street Journal) 

November 12, 2020: Trumpism and its Discontents (Othering and Belonging Institute) 

May 14, 2020: Taking Count (Othering and Belonging Institute) 

June 29, 2020: Do Canada's most powerful federal posts reflect the country's diversity? (Policy Options Politiques) 

October 15, 2019: UC Berkeley, city efforts target hard-to-count populations in 2020 census (The Daily Californian) 

September 6, 2017: 'Dreamers' unlikely to rush to claim asylum in Canada, immigration experts say (National Post)

September 5, 2017: 'A step backwards': Immigration protection for 'Dreamers' rescinded by Trump (The Current)

February 2017: Canada should welcome America's 'dreamers' (The Globe and Mail)

June 30, 2017: The Debate Over Integration: An Explainer (New Deeply)

November 2016: Working Together: Building Successful Policy and Program Partnerships for Immigrant Integration (The Center for Migration Studies)