Yael Schacher is the director for the Americas and Europe at Refugees International. Prior to joining Refugees International, Yael researched the relationship between immigration and refugee policy for her forthcoming book on the history of asylum in the U.S. since the late nineteenth century. She taught at the University of Connecticut and lectured on immigration history and refugee policy at Harvard Law School, the University of Minnesota, Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt and numerous academic conferences and public forums. While teaching at UConn, Yael helped with asylum and humanitarian visa cases at the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants. While a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas at Austin just before starting at Refugees International, Yael combined historical research on asylum and advocacy on behalf of asylum seekers (with the law school’s immigration clinic and with the organization Justice for Our Neighbors).
Yael has an M.A. in History and a Ph.D. in American Studies from Harvard University and a B.A. in literature from Columbia University.
Publications by the Author
Today, in federal district court in Dallas, Senior Judge Barbara M. G. Lynn will hear arguments in a case brought by the state of Texas and several other states to challenge...
These past two years, I have visited detention centers, shelters, and parts of the border fence in Arizona to listen to migrants' stories. Here is what I've found.
Refugees International and the Women’s Refugee Commission discuss best practices that should drive humane reception policies.
Democrats should not “compromise” by endorsing failed Trump era policies that would sow disorder at the border and return people seeking safety to danger.
Our history of providing refuge to people seeking safety should not be bartered.
To be effective in managing migration and to serve as models for use elsewhere, pathways to the United States need to be refined.
The Climate Displaced Persons Act would ensure a robust commitment by the U.S. government to global climate resilience.
Refugees International interviewed Stacie Girón, an advocate for reproductive healthcare access for migrant women in Mexico. Learn her story.
Refugees International entrevistó a Stacie Girón, defensora de los derechos de las mujeres migrantes. Aprende su historia.
U.S. policies will likely lead to unsafe returns of Venezuelans and represent dangerous precedents for the future and examples for the region.