Kristina Fullerton Rico, Ph.D.

Update: We've removed the paywall for all ye who enter.

Florida child welfare authorities turned over a 17-year-old foster child to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, sparking intense criticism that the action could hinder efforts to protect children in the state’s large immigrant communities. The Honduran teen was removed from his Pensacola foster home Monday morning — in handcuffs and shackles – and transferred immediately into ICE custody. The boy and his mother had crossed the southwest border into the U.S. without permission, sources familiar with the case told the Miami Herald. After being separated from his mother, who was later deported, the boy traveled from Texas to Pensacola, where he sought work. He entered foster care after he was found living in a shed with no source of food, shelter or income, records show. The boy, whose first name is Henry, also may have been a victim of labor trafficking. The Herald is not fully naming him to protect his privacy. Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article308254995.html#storylink=cpy

Florida welfare authorities have turned over a 17-year-old foster child to ICE.

He has already been separated from his mother, who was deported.

He may have been the victim of labor trafficking.

Yet, he was taken from his foster home in shackles.

A minor.

www.miamiherald.com/news/politic...

US immigration officers ordered to arrest more people even without warrants Exclusive: Ice officers told to get ‘creative’ with arrests, including of undocumented people encountered by chance

Senior immigration officials are currently urging officers to “turn the creative knob up to 11.” This will only increase warrantless arrests.

ICE has no shame in bypassing legal requirements

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

IMHO, the easiest way to boost event attendance is to send a calendar invite.

I see so many beautiful e-vites and Google Forms to RSVP for events, but they don't link to my Google Calendar, and I lose track of them more often than I'd like to admit (even events I'm really excited about!)

My new-to-blusky friend Nicole Kreisberg @nicolekreisberg.bsky.social is looking for interviewees for her project on immigrant couples! Her research team is in particular need of more respondents from Latin America and/or on student visas. Please share widely! #Socsky

Let this be a warning to you all: nobody steals my charts and gets to be Prime Minister of Canada

In my second piece for The Conversation, I explain that just the *threat* of deportation is enough to upend lives and communities.

@us.theconversation.com

This aligns with previous research, e.g. "Lives in Limbo" (Gonzales 2016), so I am not surprised.

But seeing it so starkly is painful, especially as we contemplate the attacks on birthright citizenship that would make even kids born in the U.S. undocumented

In other words, undocumented children are just like other kids, but their immigration status comes to define their life and limit their opportunities as they get older.

File under "demography that breaks your heart" @leafiaye.bsky.social's new article showing that "legal exclusion increasingly suppresses child arrivals’ socioeconomic development throughout the life course, resulting in a great loss of potential."

YouTube video by Rotten Tomatoes Indie Fireboys Trailer #1 (2021) | Movieclips Indie

It probably got buried by Covid because it was released in 2021 but there's a documentary called Fire Boys if you want to learn more about the juvenile incarcerated firefighters

Immigration Reading List: Books to Broaden Your Perspective on Migration (2024) Looking for a good book about immigration? 📚 Thanks to many reader contributions, we’ve got you covered with brand new book recommendations. Plus: sign up for the new Immigration Book Club online.

Immigration Reading List: Books to Broaden Your Perspective on Migration (2024)

Looking for a good book about immigration? 📚 Thanks to many reader contributions, we’ve got you covered with brand new book recommendations.

austinkocher.substack.com/p/immigratio...

I’m looking for an explainer on the DACA work visa announcement and will post when I find it.

Biden’s immigration order won’t fix problems quickly – 4 things to know about what’s changing Biden’s executive order won’t apply to undocumented minors who enter the US alone. And the order will require the help of Mexico and other countries.

Related: if you’re struggling to understand Biden’s asylum ban, Jean Lantz Reisz has this explainer (also for @theconversation.bsky.social):

theconversation.com/bidens-immig...

How Biden’s executive order to protect immigrant spouses of citizens from deportation will benefit their families and communities Biden’s executive action will shield approximately 500,000 undocumented spouses of US citizens, as well as 50,000 children, from deportation and give them the legal right to stay in the US.

Confused about Biden’s new executive action for undocumented spouses?

Jane Lilly López and I wrote an article for @theconversation.bsky.social that breaks it down.

theconversation.com/how-bidens-e...