I study how bordering and bureaucracies impact migrants’ access to mobility and their sense of belonging once they reach their intended destinations. I examine these migration and mobility dynamics from an interdisciplinary approach at the intersection of Anthropology, Criminology, and Public Policy – with a particular focus on mobility, borders, and human security in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Currently, I am a postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for Migration Studies (CMS) and a postdoctoral teaching fellow at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs (SPPGA), both at the University of British Columbia. I hold a PhD in Socio-Cultural Anthropology from the University of British Columbia and an MA in Global Policy Studies from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.

In addition to my academic work, I’ve also been a consultant and researcher with think tanks and advocacy organizations including: the Migration Policy Institute, Human Rights Watch, and Refugees International. My research and commentary have also been featured in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, the Los Angeles Times, and other media outlets.

My current book project, “Forced Forward” (under contract, University of California Press), draws on extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Panama’s Darien Gap and Tijuana, Mexico to examine how migrants from African and Asian countries moving in and through Latin America experience immigration control. Rather than prioritizing deterrence, detention, or deportation, I find, Western Hemispheric countries’ enforcement practices seek to paradoxically but almost systemically push onward these non-Latin American or Caribbean travelers through policies of “transit-as-enforcement”. Weaving together an examination of the increasing diversification of global displacement and the externalization of U.S. immigration enforcement practices, “Forced Forward” demonstrates how immigration control regimes in Latin America are highly targeted, flexible, and discretionary in ways that have been historically overlooked.

I am also currently a co-PI on the project “Precarious Migration: Experiences and Barriers for Legally Precarious Migrants in BC”. Spurred by Canada’s changing immigration landscape and the number of newcomers in Canada currently at risk of losing their status, this project examines out-of-status residents’ barriers to belonging in Canada. Through interviews, surveys, and ethnographic research, we are focused primarily on understanding how out-of-status residents’ eligibility for public services, Canadian communities’ varying degrees of knowledge and support for out-of-status residents, and the ease of mechanisms to rights claiming more and advocacy litigation in Canada’s legal system impact belonging. If you are interested in the project, please reach out.

Books

Yates, Caitlyn. Forced Forward: How Multi-Continental Journeys Redefine Border Enforcement Regimes in Latin America, University of California Press, under contract.

Selected peer-reviewed publications

Yates, Caitlyn. (2024). Inclusive counting: an essential but insufficient approach to account for missing migrants in Panama and Colombia’s shared Darien Gap. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 1-18.

Yates, Caitlyn. (2021). “Fusion Points: The Perceived, Performed, and Passive Merging of Criminality and Mobility in Mexico.” Public Anthropologist, 3(1), 56-72.

Yates, Caitlyn & Stephanie Leutert. (2020). “A Gender Perspective of Migrant Kidnapping in Mexico.” Victims & Offenders, 15(3), 295-312.

Selected chapters

Yates, Caitlyn and Luisa Feline Freier. (forthcoming). “Hypervisible – yet (Auto)invisibilized: The Marginalization of Black Migrants & Refugees in Latin America” chapter in Research Handbook on Race, Crime, and Justice. Ed. Kelly Welch. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Yates, Caitlyn & Stephanie Leutert. (2021). “Women’s Involvement in Migrant Kidnapping in Mexico: A Gender Perspective” chapter in Beyond Drugs, Smuggling and Trafficking Violence, Victimization and Community Action in Mexico’s Criminal Landscape. Eds. Gabriella Sanchez and Sheldon Zhang. Routledge.

Yates, Caitlyn & Stephanie Leutert. (2019). “Migrant Smuggling along Mexico’s Highway System” chapter in Critical Insights on Irregular Migration Facilitation: Global Perspectives. Eds. Gabriella Sanchez & Luigi Achilli. European University Institute.

Selected policy publications

Yates, Caitlyn & Stephanie Leutert. (2026) “Migration Dynamics & Conditions at the U.S.-Mexico Border: February 2026.” Strauss Center for International Security & Law.

Yates Caitlyn & Juan Pappier. (2023). “How the Treacherous Darien Gap Became a Migration Crossroads of the Americas.” Human Rights Watch.

Yates, Caitlyn & Jessica Bolter. (2021). “African Migration through the Americas: Drivers, Routes, and Policy Responses.” Migration Policy Institute.

CAORC Multi-Country Research Fellowship

Wenner-Gren Dissertation Fieldwork Grant

USMEX Visiting Fellow, University of California at San Diego (declined)

Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship

UBC PhD Dissertation Writing Award

UBC Public Scholars Initiative