Why do people migrate and how do they decide where to go? How does a society determine which border crossers are ‘illegal’ and which are ‘legal’? Why are some people deemed ‘refugees’ while others are not? What consequences do labels like ‘deportee’, ‘immigrant,’ ‘refugee,’ or ‘trafficking victim’ have on the people who get assigned them? This course will examine these and other similar questions. We will explore how the politics of race, class, gender, sexuality and citizenship shape the ways that states make sense of and regulate different groups of migrants as well as how these regulatory processes affect im/migrants’ life opportunities.