Neil Hernandez, Ph.D.
Pracademic
Research
Research
My research focuses on the policy implementation process in government agencies. In two articles, in the Journal of Policy History
and Social Science History
(forthcoming), I advance an analytical framework, "policy innovation through bureaucratic reorganization," which explains how policies are affected via reorganization of the policy implementation process from the top of organizations. This research shows how the President and his political appointees eased and tightened immigration exclusion and expulsion activities to help and hinder newcomers in the first half of the 20th century. The first article was recognized by the Society for History in the Federal Government with its 2024 Article Prize.
Also, my research examines policy implementation from the ground level, too. I study the US asylum system to better understand how applications for humanitarian protection are adjudicated, especially since USCIS is seemingly overwhelmed with these. Nonetheless, it is responsible for making fair adjudications.