She received her doctorate at Yale University in American Studies. Her research focuses on issues of migration between the United States and Mexico and considers relations to place, identity and dislocation through forms of visual culture. Her most recent book, The Undocumented Everyday: Migrant Lives and the Politics of Visibility (University of Minnesota Press, 2018), examines how Mexican and Central American migrants have depicted themselves and members of their communities in documentary photography, film, video and audio projects since 9/11. She is currently co-editing a special issue of Radical History Review on “Radical Histories of Sanctuary,” and is also the author of Cold War Exiles in Mexico: U.S. Dissidents and the Culture of Critical Resistance (University of Minnesota Press, 2008).