Sociologist of Migration, Race, and State Power
Researcher • Author • Educator
Jozef C. Robles, PhD
CURRENT APPOINTMENT
UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow
University of California, San Diego
RESEARCH AGENDA
I write about how state mechanisms create and reshape social hierarchies, and how legalization can alter lived possibilities without fully erasing the effects of state exclusion.
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Selected Research
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REMNANTS OF ILLEGALITY
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (2025)
Based on 20 interviews with formerly undocumented/DACA immigrants, I argue that transitioning through statuses leaves behind remnants of illegality—lingering effects of previous legal designations that continue to impact a person even after they are no longer in that status.
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Winner of the 2025 ASA Latina/o Sociology Section’s Cristina Maria Riegos Student Paper Award
PLACING ETHNIC ENCLAVES
Robles & Thacker Thomas • Critical Sociology (2024)
We draw on twenty interviews with Mexican immigrants in the U.S. to examine how individuals form attachments to La Calle Cuatro, a Mexican ethnic enclave in California. Our model of place attachment reveals paradoxical and recursive outcomes that produce belonging within the enclave alongside broader experiences of alienation.
