EXPERTS ADVISORY

Europe’s migrant crisis shows no signs of ending, and countries in Asia and Latin America are struggling to deal with their own mass movements of people.

Experts at the University of Michigan can discuss the ongoing crisis:

Larry Gant, professor of social work, is currently in Germany working with children in refugee camps in Berlin.

“There is a push to consider the future restructuring of communities to take into account the reality or guesstimates that maybe 60 percent of refugees will migrate to a country other than Germany, but that 40 percent might remain,” Gant said. “There’s already talk that refugees from conflict zones will have priority for resident status, while those from non-conflict zones will probably end up with deportation situations. It’s all in flux. But I think that the pragmatic future casting of refugee demographics — as well as that of immigrants and guest workers — is an issue or angle that doesn’t get a lot of attention in the news.”

Contact: lmgant@umich.edu

James Hathaway, professor of law and director of the Refugee and Asylum Law Program, is a leading authority on international refugee law. He is editor of the Immigration and Nationality Law Reports.

“The biggest issue is the abject failure of the UN refugee agency and governments to devise a planned and managed system that ensures that refugees actually get the protection they are entitled to,” Hathaway said. “Neither Europe nor the countries really affected—Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan—would be in the mess they are in if the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and governments had done the advance planning that they should have done.”

Contact: jch@umich.edu

Rita Chin, associate professor of history, is an expert on comparative European migrations, ethnic minorities, transnationalism and modern Europe.

“When we are talking about the current political refugee crisis, Germany has been maintaining a strong commitment to providing a safe haven for refugees,” she said. “Other European countries are under pressure and clearly what needs to happen is a collective discussion about how to deal with the flood of people coming in.”

Contact: rchin@umich.edu, 734-615-9320

Julia Sonnevend, assistant professor of communication studies, researches media coverage around events like the Berlin Wall collapse. She can comment on separation walls and fences, and the Hungarian response to the refugee crisis in Europe.

Contact: sonneven@umich.edu, 734-936-2535

William Frey, a researcher at the Institute for Social Research, studies migration, population redistribution and the demography of metropolitan areas.

Contact: wfrey@brookings.edu

Silvia Pedraza, professor of sociology and American culture, has interests in the sociology of immigration, and race and ethnicity in America, Cuba and Western Europe. Her research seeks to understand the causes and consequences of immigration as a historical process that forms and transforms nations.

Contact: spedraza@umich.edu, 734-647-3659

Sherrie Kossoudji, associate professor of social work, has written numerous articles on the legal status of immigrant workers in the U.S. and the incentives to cross the border illegally. Her work focuses on nonimmigrants and the transition to immigration.

Contact: kossoudj@umich.edu, 734-763-6320

Barbara Brush, associate professor of nursing, has published research on the movement of health workers.

Contact: brushb@umich.edu, 734-763-3218

Ann Lin, associate professor of public policy and political science, studies comparative migration policies around the world. She is working on a project on the political socialization and participation of new immigrants to the U.S.

Contact: annlin@umich.edu, 734-764-7507