My name is Efrén O. Pérez and I am a Doctoral Candidate in the Political Science Department at Duke University. Prior to graduate study, I served as a Public Policy Fellow for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute in Washington, D.C. Through that opportunity I gained insight into the electoral, legislative, and bureaucratic forces behind our nation's trade and immigration policies. Building on this experience, I returned to my native Los Angeles, where I worked for three years as a Media Relations Advisor for Dakota Communications, a political consulting firm. In 2003, after four healthy years away from school, I moved with my wife to North Carolina to begin working toward my PhD.

My research at Duke combines interests in Race and Politics with Public Opinion and Political Psychology. Currently, my projects examine American opposition to immigrants, Latino public opinion, and immigrant political behavior. In my dissertation, I investigate the extent to which Americans are anti-Latino rather than anti-immigrant. Using survey-experiments and time-series analysis, I assess the degree to which racial misgivings about Latinos are expressed through support for stricter immigration policies. In addition to my dissertation work, I am a member of Dr. Paula McClain's research team, which is currently engaged in studying how Latino immigration to the South has altered inter-group dynamics in this region. Finally, Victoria DeFrancesco and I are collaborating on a study which explores the nature of American attitudes toward the cultural assimilation of Latinos. For more on my academic interests, please see my CV.

It is often said that all research is biographical. My case is no different. Each of my projects is informed and shaped by my upbringing in an immigrant home. Both sides of my family are from the same town in Mexico: El Grullo, Jalisco, which is located roughly two hours southwest of Guadalajara. This small farming town has a long history of sending its young men and women to work in the United States, a history that goes all the way back to the days of the Bracero Program (America's last serious attempt at a guest-worker program). Among the sojourners in my family, very few finished elementary school, and many less reached high school. But their lack of formal training pales in comparison to their enterprising spririt. Notwithstanding our humble beginnings, my parents, uncles, aunts, and cousins have outstripped the expectations of many across both sides of the border.