He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from UCLA (2008), and M.A. in Latin American Studies from Stanford University (2002). Prof. Gonzales is a theorist of Latino and Latin American politics with a research agenda focused on issues of migration control, human rights, migrant social movements and the politics of race in the U.S., Mexico, and Central America. His research is in simultaneous dialogue with scholarly debates in Latino politics, political theory, Latino and Latin American studies, and critical ethnic studies. His underlying concern is to understand how Latino migrant and refugee social movements influence policy and the politics of migration control from the ground up.