Congratulations to Lorena Avila Jaimes for successfully defending her dissertation at the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers-Newark. Lorena is a recipient of the Center for Latin American Studies Research Grant.
Her work centered on the racialization of migrants with criminal records in U.S. immigration courts in the context of immigration detention. She explored the influence of criminal records, nationality, and access to legal counsel (not guaranteed in immigration proceedings) over immigrants’ likelihood of being released via an immigration bond. She also used qualitative methods to analyze the legal cultures influencing the immigration court’s initial screening processes of detained immigrants.
The dissertation provides empirical evidence of the disproportionate detention of Latino/a and Black immigrants via Immigration Court bond decisions. It contributes to the ongoing debates seeking to reduce or eliminate immigration detention, secure legal representation for individuals facing removal, and limit racialized judicial discretion in Immigration Court. Her most recent coauthored publication on this issue is featured by the Im/migrant Well-Being Scholar Collaborative as a briefing to facilitate dialogues with policy-makers
Her work was recognized by the Graduate School-Newark and had an honorable mention designation in this year's Outstanding Dissertation Award competition. Lorena’s scholarship is in the areas of law and society, crime and punishment, and inequality. She has also studied racial and ethnic disparities in criminal legal systems in Latin America, including anti-Black and anti-Indigenous sentiments (in Colombia and Mexico). Starting fall 2024, she’ll join Villanova University faculty at the Department of Sociology and Criminology.