Alejandro Olayo-Méndez

Alejandro Olayo-Méndez is an assistant professor at the Boston College School of Social Work. His research focuses on migrants’ and refugees’ livelihoods and the role of humanitarian organizations in contexts of migration and forced displacement.  He has conducted extensive ethnographic research along migration routes in Mexico. His book Humanitarianism from Below by NYU Press analyzes how casas de migrantes or migrant shelters shape the migratory processes in the region. In the past year, he has travelled extensively across the Mexico-US Border exploring Migrants’ digital practices, the impact of CBP One, and migrants’ wellbeing. He published part of his findings in the report, Navigating the U.S.-Mexico Border: Digital Practices of Migrants and Their Psychosocial Needs, with Jesuit Refugee Service/US. He has also published an article discussing the experience of Latino immigrants in the United States during the pandemic. He led a research project with the Jesuit Network with Migrants (Latin America and the Caribbean), which explores integration practices and accompaniment of refugees and migrants in 14 countries and their lived experiences in those countries.

Dr. Olayo-Méndez received his DPhil in International Development from the University of Oxford in 2019.  He holds a Master in Migration Studies also from the University of Oxford, a Master of Divinity from Boston College, and a Master of Social Work from Loyola University Chicago. Alejandro is a Jesuit Catholic Priest from the West Coast Province in the U.S.