She received her undergraduate degree from Amherst College and her graduate degrees from Columbia University. Her research and publications focus primarily on Latin American and Caribbean migration to the United States and the development of transnational ties between migrants and their home communities. Among her publications are American Dreaming: Immigrant Life on the Margins (1995) and "Engendering Transnational Migration: A Case Study of Salvadorans" in American Behavioral Scientist (January 1999). She is also co-editor with Patricia Pessar of a special forthcoming issue of the journal Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power on gender relations in transnational spaces.