Prof. (em.) Dr. Philip Martin (University of California, Davis): “After the Mid-terms: What Next for US Migration?”

Thursday, November 5, 2026, 6-8 p.m. (c.t.), U2/01.33 (An der Universität 2)

This lecture takes place in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Daniel Göler (Chair of Geographical Migration and Transformation Research).

If Democrats win the House, Senate or both in November 2026 elections, they are likely to launch investigations of Trump actions and policies, including on migration. Congressional hearings would put a human face on immigration enforcement and increase the share of Americans who believe that Trump has gone “too far” to reduce illegal migration. A Democrat-controlled Congress is unlikely to approve immigration legislation that Trump will sign. Most Democrats want to offer at least some of the unauthorized migrants a path to US citizenship, while Trump advisor Stephen Miller opposes any form of amnesty.

Philip Martin, professor emeritus of the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, focuses on immigration, farm labor, and economic development in his research. He has earned a reputation as an effective analyst who can develop practical solutions to complex and controversial migration and labor issues. In the U.S., he was the only academic appointed to the Commission on Agricultural Workers to assess the effects of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. He assessed the prospects for Turkish migration to European Union between 1987 and 1990, and evaluated the effects of immigration on Malaysia’s economy and its labor markets in 1994-95. In 2001-02, he assessed the options for dealing with unauthorized migration into Thailand. Prof. Martin received UC Davis’ Distinguished Public Service award in 1994, and was a member of the Binational Study of Migration between 1995 and 1997. (Link)