Originally, my anthropology capstone was an ethnography focusing on experiences of New Americans in the immigration process, as a critique on the victim anthropology narrative often given to expatriates. Research was conducted at the International Institute of St. Louis, a non-profit that is self-described as “our community’s immigrant service and information hub”. Because of the COVID-19 outbreak the International Institute closed temporarily, effectively halting my research. Without drastically changing my capstone topic, the project evolved into a literature review of ethnographies of migration and institutions, with a comparative analysis and critique of the U.S. immigration and refugee system. With this capstone I am aiming to further explore the convoluted process of immigration, and the dedicated case workers that function within the unreasonable guidelines the U.S. government expects them to follow. With the research conducted, I hope to potentially propose legislative changes regarding the immigration process, and the assimilation standards currently held.

Brigid Dolan would like to thank their faculty sponsor Amy Cooper for their support of this project.