Alejandro Contreras is a Ph.D. student at Brown University studying American Politics. He holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from San Diego State University as well as a B.S. in Criminal Justice and B.A. in Spanish. His current research interests encompass issues of race and immigration in federal, state, and local policy. The support from the Fund for Latino Scholarship will assist in conducting research in San Diego, California on the relationship between deportation and housing insecurity/homelessness among Latino families. Particularly, the funds will be used to compensate interview and survey participants. Alejandro hopes his research can be used to impact federal, state, and local policy on immigration and social welfare.