Andrés Besserer Rayas’s dissertation analyzes how and when states provide documentation to undocumented immigrants, and how such documentation, or lack of it, affects them and their families. Using multi-sited ethnographic and comparative analysis, he studies Colombia as a paradigm of inclusionary policies towards immigrants, in contrast to the United States.

His publicly engaged scholarship in the US includes research to protect DACA, advance immigrant rights and health post-Covid-19, driver’s licenses for the undocumented, among other topics. In Colombia, his research on the effects of statelessness was used in a ruling by the country’s highest court that protected plaintiff’s rights, and publicized the issue. He received ESS’s 2023 pre-tenure publicly engaged sociology award.

His research has been published in Sociological Forum; The Journal on Migration and Human Security; Territory, Politics, Governance; among others. He has an MSc from University College London and a BA from El Colegio de México.