Register as an Expert Witness with the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies
Based at UC Hastings College of the Law, the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS) has been at the forefront of the struggle to protect the fundamental human rights of refugee women, children, LGBTQ individuals, and others fleeing persecution. Among other efforts, CGRS provides technical assistance to attorneys representing asylum seekers. One of CGRS’s resources is the Expert Witness Database, which helps attorneys find country conditions experts, mental health or medical evaluators, or others who can serve as experts in asylum cases. There continues to be a growing need for experts. Persons who are interested in being listed in the database can submit their information to CGRS for consideration here.
Psychology Immigration Forensic Toolkit
coming soon
Further Reading and Listening
NEW RESOURCES / NOVEMBER 2025
Forensic Briefs Podcast, an online podcast that delves into the fascinating intersection of psychology and law.
“Trauma as inclusion in the immigration context,” with guest Raquel E. Aldana.
In this episode, Professor Raquel Aldana, a leading scholar on immigration and human rights law, joins us to discuss the deep relationship between trauma and justice. She reflects on how legal systems define, recognize, and sometimes distort trauma—particularly for immigrants and asylum seekers—and how cross-disciplinary collaborations with mental health professionals are transforming that understanding. Together, we explore how law can move beyond exclusion toward inclusion, therapeutic jurisprudence, and the pursuit of truth.
American Journal of Law & Medicine
Skwara A., Howard S., Velazquez C., Aldana R., “Adjudicating Credibility: Documenting the Role of Mental Health Immigration Forensic Assessments,” American Journal of Law & Medicine 51, n. 2 (2025):217-251.
Mental health or psychological forensic assessments are a growing practice in immigration adjudication, but the practice is not well understood. Several studies have measured the impact of medical or mental health forensic reports in immigration adjudication; yet none have documented when mental health forensic reports are sought or how they are conducted in practice. This article undertakes an interdisciplinary empirical documentation of the practice of forensic mental health assessments in immigration adjudication. A core focus of our survey was documenting the role of mental health forensic immigration assessments in substantiating migrants’ trauma and bolstering credibility. Our preliminary findings identify ways to improve the practice of mental health assessments within the immigration context toward practices that are more consistent with the science of trauma and memory.
Thomas O’Donnell, “Trauma and Immigration [A brief history of mental health examinations in early immigration enforcement],” historytom.com, March 24, 2021.
On Being with Krista Tippett, “Bessel van der Kolk — How Trauma Lodges in the Body,” December 26, 2019.
Richardson John T. E. Howard Andrew Knox Pioneer of Intelligence Testing at Ellis Island. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011. [Psych Central Reviews]
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Beyond Proof, Credibility Assessment in EU Asylum Systems: Full Report, May 2013
Presentations
The “Compassion in Immigration” project is a continuation of an ongoing collaboration between the UC Davis law and medical schools in a project titled “Transforming Refugee Mental Health: Improving Legal Assessment of Credibility through Science.” Following two interdisciplinary symposiums, which brought together over seventy professionals, including lawyers, mental health providers, researchers and academics, refugee resettlement specialists, and medical professionals, from over twenty countries, this project led to the publication of a report titled Stakeholder Perspectives Report: Focus Group Findings on Migrant Legal-Mental Health Intersectionality. We now seek to implement some of the most important recommendations from the findings.
Transforming Refugee Mental Health: Focus Group Findings on Migrant Legal-Mental Health Intersectionality
October 25, 2019
Aldana, Raquel and Patrick Marius Koga, “Stakeholder Perspectives Report: Focus Group Findings on Migrant Legal-Mental Health Intersectionality”
Evans, Tyler B., “Native American Health”
Skwara, Alea C., “Trauma and Memory in the Brain”
Ton, Hendry, “Refugee Mental Health”
UC Davis hosts first refugee-law-health interdisciplinary meeting
November 9, 2018
Aguilar-Gaxiola UCDavis Forum
Pirzada-Refugee Health and Law Forum
Refugee Forum_RESTART
Karaki RAHI Presentation