¡Hola! Hallo! Hi!

I am a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in the International Relations and National Security Studies Program at the University of Central Florida (UCF) with an interest in civil-police relations, police militarization, and (intergenerational) legacies of stress and trauma.

My research focuses on the effects individuals’ cognitive style and ability have on forming opinions on police. I study this topic in the light of militarization of police across the globe, which can be understood as (a) training police to a military standard, (b) assigning police tasks to the military, or (c) both.

My Approach

I use a multi-method approach that includes:

• Part I: A survey experiment with first- and second-generation Latin American immigrants in the United States.
• Part II: In-depth interviews to understand how intergenerational trauma and personal histories of violence shape trust in U.S. law enforcement.
• Part III: A comparative survey in Mexico, the largest Latin American diaspora group in the U.S., to examine how perceptions differ across national and migratory contexts.

My work contributes to ongoing debates in political psychology and public opinion, particularly around how stress, trauma, and visual cues (such as police uniforms) affect trust in state institutions. It also evaluates the limits of self-reported stress in survey-based research on sensitive topics like regime legitimacy and authority.

Why Latin America?

Latin Americans—both in the U.S. and in their countries of origin—represent a population that has experienced high levels of state violence, social instability, and institutional distrust, often across generations. Many Latin American countries have histories marked by authoritarian regimes, civil conflict, or militarized policing, which can leave lasting psychological and social effects on their citizens.

By focusing on first- and second-generation Latin American migrants in the U.S., this research explores how intergenerational trauma and legacy stress continue to shape attitudes toward authority—particularly police—even in new national contexts.