Matthew Blanton
  • Research
  • Teaching
  • Public Scholarship
  • CV

Who moves, and why

Two connected questions—why people flee threats through migration, and how states meet those migrants with enforcement. Alongside them, a second program on religious and civic change in Latin America.

International Migration

Migration under threat

Why and how people migrate in response to threats to their lives and livelihoods—and what those movements mean for individuals, families, and communities. Guatemala as a critical case, and the pre- and post-migration experience of vulnerable migrants in Costa Rica.

American Journal of Sociology● Revise & resubmit

The Long Reverberation: From Forced Displacement to Durable Migration Streams

2026 Distinguished Student Paper Award—ASA Section on Crime, Law & Deviance
2025 Best Graduate Student Paper—ASA Section on the Sociology of Development
2025 Elise Boulding Student Paper Award, Honorable Mention—ASA Section on Peace, War & Social Conflict
American Sociological Review● Under review

Nowhere to Hide: Surveillance, Perceived Threat Escalation, and International Migration

with Abigail Weitzman & Sarah Brayne
Population & Development Review● Published · 2026

Respondent-Driven Sampling as a Tool for Studying Migrants in Need of International Protection: New Evidence from Costa Rica

with Abigail Weitzman & Gilbert Brenes Camacho
Society & Mental Health● Published · 2025

Post-Migration Stressors and Mental and Physical Health Among Refugees and Migrants in Need of Protection: A Mixed-Methods Analysis with Weekly Panel Data

2026 Graduate Student Paper Award—ASA Section on the Sociology of Mental Health
Featured in the UT Population Research Center Research Brief series (2025)
International Migration Review● Published · 2025

Family Separation Among Migrants in Need of International Protection: Anticipation, Duration, and Agency

with Abigail Weitzman & Gilbert Brenes Camacho
PLOS One● Published · 2024

Design and Implementation of an Intensive Panel Survey with Refugees and Other Migrants in Need of Protection in Costa Rica

with Abigail Weitzman, Sophie Morse, Gilbert Brenes Camacho & María José Chaves Groh
Journal of Family Issues● Published · 2024

International Displacement and Family Stress in Latin America

with Abigail Weitzman, Katarina Huss, Jeffrey Swindle, Gilbert Brenes Camacho & Arodys Robles
BMC Public Health● Published · 2023

Variability in Mental Health Reporting Among Refugees and Migrants in Need of Protection: New Evidence from a Weekly Panel Survey

with Abigail Weitzman & Gilbert Brenes Camacho
International Migration Review● Published · 2022

Costa Rica as a Destination for Migrants in Need of International Protection: IMR Country Report

with Abigail Weitzman, Gilbert Brenes Camacho, Arodys Robles, Jeffrey Swindle & Katarina Huss
Migration Studies● Published · 2024

Border Ballads: The Poetry and Politics of Los Tigres del Norte

Immigration Enforcement

How states respond to threat

How states answer migration through enforcement, and how well administrative statistics capture what is actually happening. Border apprehension counts, El Salvador’s state of exception, asylum adjudication, and the machinery of federal prosecution.

Population Research & Policy Review● Published

Are Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Apprehensions a Reliable Proxy for Undocumented Migration? A Brief Report with New Evidence on Migration from Guatemala

Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies● Accepted

Violence and International Migration in Illiberal Times: The Case of El Salvador’s Illiberal Transformation

with Jeffrey Swindle
Special issue: “Migration Across the Americas: Governance of Borders, Mobilities, and People”
Findings appeared in The Boston Globe and El Diario de Hoy
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal● Under review

Who Are the New Asylum Seekers? Evidence from Border Encounters

with Jeffrey Swindle
Invited submission following a competitive call
Journal of Criminal Justice● Revise & resubmit

An Enduring Interruption: How “Zero Tolerance” Reshaped Prosecutorial Discretion at the U.S.–Mexico Border

Data & code ↗
Religion & Civic Life

Religion and Social Change in Latin America

A second research program on how large-scale social change—especially religious change—is reshaping social norms and political behavior in Latin America. Two decades of survey data across seventeen countries, evangelical growth and democratic attitudes, and the discipline’s own engagement with religion.

Socius● Published · 2025

Institutional Decline and Resilient Belief: Understanding Secularization in Latin America

200K+ reads on the companion piece in The Conversation; reprinted or cited by 16 outlets
2025 McNamara Outstanding Student Paper Award—Association for the Sociology of Religion
2023 W. Parker Frisbie Outstanding Graduate Student Publication Award—UT Population Research Center
Top 5% of outputs tracked by Altmetric; featured in Religion Watch
Data & code ↗
The Sociological Quarterly● Published · 2023

Value Conditioned Interest: Secularity, Institutional Support, and the Sociology of Religion in Graduate Departments

with Daniel Krasniki
Among the journal’s most-cited articles of the past three years
Journal of Religion & Demography● Published · 2022

Threat or Godsend? Evangelicals and Democracy in Latin America

Matthew Blanton
PhD Candidate · Sociology & Demography · UT Austin
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