Research Agenda

Broadly, my research examines how public policy conditions how we live together in multi-ethnic democracies. Specifically, I study the causes and consequences of local policies related to immigrants in the United States. I take a multi-method approach to my research and involve community organizations and local governments in the process to ensure my work speaks to the lived-experiences of those I study.

Book Project

My book – Cities Creating Citizens? – examines why certain city governments choose to respond to growing immigrant populations with policies that give them access to local decision-making processes and how these policies shape immigrants’ political experiences in the U.S. Although anti-immigrant sentiments have been on the rise across the country, and federal attention has been focused on protecting the border and policing the interior, cities across the country have responded to growing immigrant populations with welcoming policies. My book finds that, although cities across the country have enacted broadly welcoming policies, only certain ones have enacted policies that seek to politically integrate immigrants and give them access to political power. I seek to understand the factors that lead to the adoption of these policies, paying specific attention to the role of locally-specific social constructions of immigrants and the work of local immigrant advocacy groups. Furthermore, I find that these policies matter. Even within a growingly hostile federal climate for immigrants, efforts to politically include immigrants and give them access to local decision-making within cities leads to higher senses of belonging and political engagement among immigrant communities.

To substantiate these claims, I engaged in a wide-ranging data collection process and used a variety of methodological approaches. To examine different types of welcoming local policies and the factors associated with their adoption, I use a multi-level time-series analysis of twenty-three policies adopted by the 100 largest cities from 2016-2022. This data was gathered in partnership with the American Immigration Council. To gain further insight into the mechanisms that underlie these policy adoptions, I rely on qualitative process-tracing and interviews in four case cities: Austin, TX, Charlotte, NC, Columbus, OH, and Indianapolis, IN. I travelled to each city and conducted hour-long interviews with ninety-eight city-councilors, local bureaucrats, and staff and immigrant-serving organizations in order to understand how the policy process unfolded and how policymakers view immigrants and interact with local advocates. To understand the differential effects of these policies I surveyed over 1500 immigrants about their experiences with local policies and programs. This involved creating new survey questions to capture immigrants’ experiences with various types of local policies and fielding two original surveys.

Refereed Publications

Dias, Megan, Epp, Derek, Roman, Marcel, & Walker, Hannah. 2023. Consent Searches: Evaluating the Usefulness of a Common and Highly Discretionary Police Practice. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies. 1–57.

Buchanan, Ross, Dias, Megan, & Wlezien, Christopher. 2022. “On Collective Representation.” In Thomas Rudolph (ed.) Handbook of Politics and Public Opinion. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Cameron, Maxwell, Dias, Megan, & Ejeckam, Chuka. The 2018 B.C. Referendum on Electoral Reform: The Challenges of Citizen Consultations. 2019. Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law. Vol13, Special Issue, 75-86.

Working Papers

Dias, Megan. Cities Creating Citizens? The Impact of Local Programs Promoting Naturalization in the United States. (R&R at Policy Studies Journal)

Dias, Megan & Williamson, Abigail. Pragmatic Welcoming: Cities’ Responses to Immigrants Across the Obama, Trump, and Biden Administrations. (Under Review)

Dias, Megan. Degrees of Deservingness: Varied Policy Adoption and Social Constructions of Immigrants in American Cities.

Dias, Megan & Dye, Connor. Reframing Integration: Determinants of Support for Local Immigrant Integration Policies.