As a capstone to the fall course “The Ethics of Borders and Migration,” 11 Princeton undergraduates and one graduate student traveled north to Buffalo, New York, to learn about the city’s refugee resettlement efforts.

The course and long-weekend trip were led by Anna Stilz, the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Politics and the University Center for Human Values, who is also director of the Program in Values and Public Life. Her current research and second book, forthcoming with Oxford University Press, focus on territorial sovereignty, a subject closely related to refugees. Over the past decade, Buffalo has become a major center for refugee resettlement in the Northeast, resettling about 12,000 refugees. Close to the Canadian border, Buffalo is also a destination for asylum seekers from around the world who are trying to press claims in Canada, which processes claims more expeditiously — and often more favorably to refugees — than the United States.

Click here for more on the intriguing case study of Buffalo.