S. Deborah Kang

Education

Ph.D., United States History, University of California at Berkeley
M.A., Jurisprudence and Social Policy, University of California at Berkeley
B.A., College Scholar, Cornell University

Biography

S. Deborah Kang is Associate Professor of History and John L. Nau III Associate Professor of the History and Principles of Democracy in the Corcoran Department of History and the Karsh Institute of Democracy at the University of Virginia.

Her first book, The INS on the Line: Making Immigration Law on the US-Mexico Border, 1917-1954 (Oxford University Press, 2017) traces the history of US immigration agencies on the US-Mexico border and earned six awards and accolades, including the Henry Adams Prize from the Society for History in the Federal Government, the Theodore Saloutos Book Award from the Immigration and Ethnic History Society, the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians Book Prize, the W. Turrentine Jackson Award from the Western History Association, and the Americo Paredes Book Award for Best Nonfiction Book on Chicano/a, Mexican American and/or Latino/a Studies. It was also recognized as a Finalist for the 2018 Weber-Clements Book Prize by the Western History Association.

In 2025, Kang was the recipient of the inaugural Award for Contributions to Public Policy from the Organization of American Historians. The Award recognized her "extensive efforts to make immigration policy more humane and equitable" through the application of her scholarly expertise to the most pressing immigration law and policy issues of the day.

Her recent publications include the co-edited anthology Hidden Histories of Unauthorized Migrations from Europe to the United States (University of Illinois Press, 2025) and a new history of the 1952 McCarran Walter Act in the Journal of American Constitutional History (August 2025).

Her current research includes a second monograph on the history of immigration relief from the late nineteenth century to the present, Race and Relief: The History of Immigration Legalization in the United States, 1906-1996. Her work has been supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Huntington Library, and the Clements Center for Southwest Studies.

Selected Publications

Books and Edited Volumes

S. Deborah Kang, The INS on the Line: Making Immigration Law on the US-Mexico Border, 1917-1954 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017).

Danielle Battisti and S. Deborah Kang, eds., Hidden Histories of Unauthorized Migrations from Europe to the United States (University of Illinois Press, May 2025).

Jon Gjerde, Catholicism and the Shaping of Nineteenth Century America, edited with a Preface and Epilogue by S. Deborah Kang (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012).

Articles

S. Deborah Kang, “Creating a ‘Mass Production Technique’: Anti-Mexican Racism and the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952,” Journal of American Constitutional History, vol. 3,  n. 4 (August 2025): 545-613.

S. Deborah Kang, “Sovereign Mercy: The Legalization of the White Russian Refugees and the Politics of Immigration Relief,” Journal of American Ethnic History, vol. 43, n. 1 (2023): 5-42. 

Tom K. Wong, Ph.D., S. Deborah Kang, Ph.D., Carolina Valdivia, M.A., Josefina Espino, Michelle Gonzalez, Elia Peralta, “How Interior Immigration Enforcement Erodes Trust in Law Enforcement,” Perspectives on Politics, vol. 17, n. 4 (2019), 1-14.

Declarations

Affidavit of Dr. S. Deborah Kang, Associate Professor, University of Virginia, United States v. Hernandez-Perez, No. 23-cr-91-GRB (E.D.N.Y, October 12, 2023) (54-page report tracing the racist origins of the 1952 reenactment of 8 U.S.C. § 1326).

Affidavit of Dr. S. Deborah Kang, Associate Professor, University of Virginia, United States v. Marciano Munoz-De La O, Case No. 2:20-cr-00134-RMP (E.D. Wash. December 22, 2021). (103-page affidavit tracing the racist origins of the 1988, 1990, 1994, 1996, and 1997 reenactments of 8 U.S.C. § 1326).

Policy Briefs

Krista Kshatriya, J.D. and S. Deborah Kang, Ph.D., “Walls to Protection: The Grim Reality of Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ Policy,” Policy Brief (La Jolla: U.S. Immigration Policy Center, 2019).

Tom K. Wong, Ph.D., S. Deborah Kang, Ph.D., Carolina Valdivia, M.A., Josefina Espino, Michelle Gonzalez, Elia Peralta, “How Interior Immigration Enforcement Erodes Trust in Law Enforcement,” Working Paper No. 2 (La Jolla: U.S. Immigration Policy Center, 2019).

Essays

“The Border Patrol and Asylum Exclusion,” Public Books, May 30, 2024.

"TPS for Ukrainians is good. But our selective approach to refugees excludes many," Washington Post, March 4, 2022.

“Border Fiction Made Real: How Search and Seizure Laws Degrade on the 100-Mile Border Zone,” KCET Artbound, November 12, 2019.

Carly Goodman, S. Deborah Kang, and Yael Schacher, “How advocates can defeat Trump’s latest assault on asylum seekers,” Washington Post, July 18, 2019.

Selected Awards and Honors

Award for Contributions to Public Policy, Organization of American Historians, 2025

OAH Distinguished Lecturer, Organization of American Historians, 2022

Theodore Saloutos Book Award, Immigration and Ethnic History Society, 2018

Henry Adams Prize, Society for History in the Federal Government, 2018

Berkshire Conference of Women Historians Book Prize, Berkshire Conference of Women Historians, 2017

W. Turrentine-Jackson Book Prize, Western History Association, 2018

Ameríco Paredes Book Award for Nonfiction, Center for Mexican American Studies, South Texas College, 2018

Finalist, David J. Weber and Bill Clements Prize, Western History Association, 2018

Harvard University Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, 2009

Harvard University Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, 2008

Courses Taught

• HIUS 2168: The US-Mexico Border: History, Policy, and Theory
• HIUS 2201: US Immigration Law and Policy in Historical Perspective
• HIUS 3501: Immigration, Race, and Rights in the United States
• HIUS 4501: Immigrants in American Life

Professional Societies

Southeast Latinx Scholars Working Group

Alliance for Texas History

Immigration and Ethnic History Society

Organization of American Historians

Scholars Strategy Network