Fulbright Grad Visits Law School to Research Crimmigration in the Pacific Islands
Henrietta McNeill works with Law professor Juliet Stumpf as part of her Fulbright New Zealand Graduate Award.
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Fulbright New Zealand Graduate Award recipient, Henrietta McNeil is a Visiting Student Researcher at Lewis & Clark Law through the month of March, working directly with professor Juliet Stumpf. McNeill is using Stumpf’s crimmigration framework as the lens through which to view her PhD dissertation, which focuses on criminal deportations to the Pacific Islands from Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. Her PhD thesis is titled “Exporting offenders, or creating criminal networks? Criminal Deportees and risk to Pacific Security”
When asked about her experience at Lewis & Clark so far, McNeill emphasized that she was very excited for the opportunity to work with professor Stumpf due to her “incredible reputation.” McNeill read a 2006 article written by Stumpf which has “stayed with her” throughout her PhD candidacy. Stumpf was the first to define the term “crimmigration” to reflect the intersection of criminal law and immigration. Now, McNeill says “it is amazing to be able to meet with her face-to-face and share ideas and develop my understanding of how crimmigration applies to my dissertation.”
McNeill became interested in crimmigration when she was working with the New Zealand government on an aid program that helped Pacific Island states combat immigration-related transnational crime. She found there was a disconnect in countries’ goals compared to their actions. She found that “the United States, Australia, and New Zealand were all trying to stop transnational crime in the Pacific, but were also contributing to it through their own deportation policies.” With this issue in mind, McNeill left the government to pursue a PhD and do a “really deep dive on the subject.”
Fulbright New Zealand Graduate Awards can be used towards Masters or PhD programs, or grantees can participate as a Visiting Student Researcher (VSR). A VSR allows grantees to spend between 6-12 months studying or researching a topic or proposed project in the US. Following her time at Lewis & Clark, McNeill will be studying at UCLA and the University of Hawaii Manoa.
