CALL FOR ARTICLES

RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences

"The New Asylum Seekers: Subnational Dynamics of Migration Governance in the United States"

"The United States is home to roughly 13.7 million immigrants who lack a durable legal status, but this umbrella category includes a spectrum of people, and is shifting in its make-up (Van Hook, Ruiz Soto, and Gelatt 2025). With no broad channel by which to legalize status since the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, the largest group of undocumented immigrants—an estimated 71 percent of the total—includes those who entered without inspection at the border or overstayed visas and therefore lack any official status, often for decades. In 2023, for instance, 4.3 million immigrants had lived in the US for 18 years or more without papers (Passel and Krogstad 2025). A second growing group within the spectrum includes those with “liminal,” in-between statuses providing revocable, short-term relief from deportation and work authorization but not long-term stability, rights, and security (see Menjívar 2006). This group, which amounts to an estimated 29 percent of the total, includes Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) holders and those with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), as well as an increasing number of asylum seekers, especially since the mid-2010s. ...

"Accordingly, this issue of RSF examines the ways in which contemporary asylum seekers to the US resemble and differ from other immigrants, past and present; it considers how rising asylum-seeking shapes subnational responses among diverse state and non-state actors; it compares the experiences of asylum-seeking newcomers with long-term unauthorized immigrants; it analyzes the relationships of these groups with the US-born population; and, in turn, it assesses their influence on broader US immigration policies."

Prospective contributors should submit a CV and an abstract (up to two pages in length, single or double-spaced) of their study along with up to three pages of supporting material (e.g., tables, figures, pictures, etc.) no later than 5 PM EST on January 7, 2026.

Read the complete call for articles online.