Ramón Garibaldo Valdéz studies social movements, U.S. Latinx politics, and immigration. His current book project is entitled, “La lucha de cada día: Immigrant Justice Organizing and the Political Remaking of Illegality in the U.S.” Based on three years of ethnographic research, it centers immigrant justice organizations, led by and representing undocumented immigrants and asylum-seekers, as key actors in American democracy. It chronicles and analyzes immigrant-led community organizing, exploring the strategies employed by these communities to advance welcoming social policies, create long-lasting political infrastructures, and even organize inside detention centers. 

Ramón earned his Ph.D. and M.Phil degrees from Yale University’s Political Science Department, and a B.A. in political science from Johnson C. Smith University, a Historically Black College in North Carolina. Ramón is a passionate advocate of activist research, ethnographic methods, and grounded theorizing in the study of politics.