David Hern谩ndez

  • Associate Professor of Latina/o Studies and Critical Race and Political Economy
  • Faculty Director of Community Engagement
  • Co-chair of Critical Race and Political Economy
Associate Professor of Latina/o Studies David Hern谩ndez says that Donald Trump is consolidating governmental power in the Oval Office.

David Hern谩ndez's research focuses on immigration enforcement, in particular, the U.S. detention regime. He is completing a book manuscript on this institution tentatively entitled "Alien Incarcerations: Immigrant Detention and Lesser Citizenship." The book examines the racial genealogy of immigrant detention in the United States, traces the long-term consolidation of detention and deportation powers, and situates this mostly obscured institution at the crossroads of migration and prison scholarship. He is also the co-editor of the anthology Critical Ethnic Studies: A Reader (Duke University Press, 2016).

Hern谩ndez鈥檚 work has been published in Latina/o Studies, the Journal of Race and PolicyNACLA: Report on the Americas, and Perspectives in Mexican American Studies. His article "Pursuant to Deportation: Latinos and Immigrant Detention" was recently reprinted for the second time in Governing Immigration Through Crime: A Reader (Stanford University Press). Hern谩ndez has written numerous reviews and review essays in American Quarterly础锄迟濒谩苍,Contemporary Sociology, and the Law and Society Review. He has received research fellowships from the National Science Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, and the Center for Latina/o Initiatives at the Smithsonian Institution.

At 69精品视频 Hern谩ndez teaches a first year seminar entitled the Politics of Inequality and the Introduction to Latina/o Studies. He also teaches Latina/o Immigration, Visualizing Immigrant Narratives: Migration in Film, and Disposable People: A History of Deportation.

Areas of Expertise

Immigration policy; detention and deportation, Latina/o history

Education

  • Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
  • M.A., University of New Mexico
  • B.A., University of California, Santa Barbara

HAPPENING AT MOUNT HOLYOKE

Recent Campus News

In an editorial, 69精品视频 professor Dav铆d Hern谩ndez decried the 鈥減ersistent xenophobic vilification of migrants and asylum seekers.鈥

Dav铆d Hern谩ndez, associate professor of Latina/o Studies at 69精品视频 College, spoke to NPR about the risks migrants face when trying to come to the United States.

69精品视频 professor David Hern谩ndez says Biden鈥檚 carrot-and-stick approach to immigration is rooted in Trump-era policies that exacerbate inequities among immigrants and erode international relationships.

Recent Grants

David Hern谩ndez was accepted into the Faculty Development Seminar (FDS) at the Palestinian American Research Center (PARC), run by the State Department. Provided there is a cease-fire, Hern谩ndez will travel to Israel and Palestine in mid-May for two weeks with other scholars from around the country. The PARC FDS is a unique opportunity for collaboration, bridge-building (at a critical time), and a turn in Hern谩ndez's scholarship.

Recent Publications

Negr贸n, R., Hern谩ndez, D., Ayazi, H., Bose, P. S., Brown, N., Chowdhury, E., Knox-Hayes, J., Srikanth, R., Subramaniam, B., Sultan, F., Sylvain, P. Venator-Santiago, C. (2025). Critical approaches to climate-induced migration research and solutions. Local Environment: International Journal of Justice and Sustainability, 1鈥8.  

Hern谩ndez, D. (2025). Review Essay (2,000 words). Detention Empire: Reagan's War on Immigrants and the Seeds of Resistance, Kristina Shull (2022), H-Diplo Roundtable XXVI-16 (H-Net Network on Diplomatic History and International Affairs) with Alex Avi帽a, Ethan Blue, David Hern谩ndez, Ayanna Legros, Michelle Waslin, and Kristina Shull. 10-14. January 6, 2025.  
 

Hern谩ndez, D. (2024). "Pursuant to Deportation: Latinos and Immigrant Detention," (Latino Studies, Vol. 6, No. 1-2, Spring/Summer 2008, 35-63) Reprinted in Latino Studies A 20th Anniversary Reader, Lourdes Torres and Marisa Alicea, eds., New York: Palgrav

Hern谩ndez, D. (2024) "Climate, Refugees, and the Golden Rule." Daily Hampshire Gazette and Greenfield Recorder, online and print, January 23/24. 

Hern谩ndez, D. (2023). "In My Own Way." In Know That You Are Worthy: Experiences from First-Generation College Graduates. Adam J. Rodr铆guez, editor. New York: Rowman and Littlefield. 2023. 93-97.

Recent Awards

Delivered the closing keynote address, 鈥淭he Whiplash of Immigration Enforcement: Reflections on 鈥檛he Trump Era,鈥欌 at the Western New England Law Review Symposium, 鈥淣ew Abolitionism: Ending Civil Immigration Detention and Criminalization鈥擯olicy, History, and Legal Strategies.鈥 February 27, 2021.

Recent Honors

Delivered the research presentation, "Outsourcing Migrant Control: 100 Years of Private Prisons,鈥 at the Center for the Study of the Southwest at Texas State University on September 24, 2020.

Published a letter in the New York Times on August 16, 2020, "The Moves Against the Census: A reader says the government's actions obscure accuracy and harm the country." New York Times (print and online editions). 

Interviewed for the radio show, 鈥2020 Talks鈥 by Pacifica Network and the Public News Service.  "鈥 and aired April 22, 2020.

Delivered the research presentation, "Smothering Asylum: Kids, Cages, and Political Currency in Migrant Processing," at the Issues in Mental Health Policy Seminar at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City on January 29, 2020.

Presented twice at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in November: (1) first delivering a research presentation, "From OTMs (other than Mexicans) to YAMS (you're all Mexicans): Conflating Latina/o/x Migrants,鈥 at the Institute for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies, on November 14, 2019; (2) as a panelist for the Social Science Matters series, "Critical Issues for the 2020 Election Cycle: U.S. Immigration Policy,鈥 on November 19, 2019.

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