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Research

Dr. Choe-Smith's main areas of research are immigration ethics and engaged ethics. Dr. Choe-Smith is currently working on her first book, Principles of Immigration Ethics. The book develops and defends a shared, mid-level principles framework for contemporary ethical issues in immigration and asylum. The book extends an approach well established in biomedical and professional ethics to immigration ethics and then applies it systematically to important contemporary issues in immigration law and policy such as access to public benefits, public safety and national security, asylum or temporary protection, and comprehensive immigration reform.

Publications

  • “Equitable Access to For-Credit and Paid Internships,” with Melissa Repa, Jaime Jackson, Ann Moylan, Tina Torres, Nicole Franco, and Noel Mora, Metropolitan Universities Journal 36(2) (2025).
  • “Developing Equitable and Mutually Beneficial Virtual Community-Engaged Learning Opportunities,” with Casey Knifsend, Metropolitan Universities Journal 33(4) (2022)
  • “Academic Internships in Philosophy,” Teaching Philosophy 45(4) (2022).
  • “Service Learning in Philosophical Ethics,” Teaching Ethics 20(1/2)(2021): 91-112
  • “Should Undocumented Immigrants Have Access to Public Benefits,” Social Philosophy Today 35 (2019): 41-58.
  • “Political Refugees and Economic Migrants,” in Refugees Now: Rethinking Borders, Hospitality, and Citizenship, eds. Kelly Oliver, Lisa Madura, and Sabeen Ahmed (Rowman and Littlefield, 2019).
  • DiSilvestro, R., Choe-Smith, C., Houk, T., S. Ayala-Lopz, “The road to HEAVEN is paved with good intentions: Transplanting heads, manipulating selves, and reassigning genders,” American Journal of Bioethics-Neuroscience 8(4): 223-225 (2017). . 
  • DiSilvestro, R., Choe-Smith, C., Houk, T., I Just Wanna Get My Self, or My Story, Back Again: Narrative Identity, Neurosurgical Intervention, and the Temporary Change Argument, American Journal of Bioethics (2017).
  • “Confronting Ethical Permissibility in Animal Research: Rejecting a Common Assumption and Extending a Principle of Justice,” Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, special issue, eds. Beauchamp, T., Gluck, J., and Ferdowsian, H. (invited article, April 2014).
  • “Extending Human Research Protections to Nonhuman Animals: The Belmont Report and a Principled Approach” with Hope Ferdowsian, M.D., M.P.H., in The Politics of Species, Lanjouw, A. and Corbey, R. (Cambridge University Press, September 2013).
  • “Just International Normative Structure,” Public Reason, vol. 4, nos. 1-2, December 2012.

 

Presentations

  • “Principles Approach to Immigration Ethics: Evaluating ICE Raids and Deportations,” Association for Practical and Professional Ethics, virtual conference, April 10, 2026.
  • “Executive Power, Deportations, and Immigrant Rights,” North American Society for Social Philosophy, El Paso, Texas, July 2025.
  • “Career-Focused Experiential Learning: Academic Internships & Enhanced Pedagogy,” with Jaime Jackson, Community Engagement Center Showcase, Sacramento, California, April 2025.
  • “Equitable Access to For-Credit and Paid Internships,” with Melissa Repa, Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities Annual Conference, St. Louis, Missouri, October 2024.
  • “Temporary Protection Status and the Treatment of Different Migrant Groups,” North American Society for Social Philosophy, Omaha, Nebraska, July 2024.
  • “Becoming Equity Centered in Community Engagement,” with Ann Moylan, Rachelle Davis, and Noel Mora, Anti-Racism and Inclusive Plan Spring Symposium, California State University, Sacramento, March 2023.
  • “Developing Accessible & Mutually Beneficial Virtual Community Engagement Learning Opportunities,” with Casey Knifsend, Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities Annual Conference, San Diego, California, October 2022.
  • "COVID-19 Vaccinations and Global Public Health," Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics Seminar (online), Stanford University School of Medicine, November 2021. 
  • "Undocumented Immigrants and Public Benefits," Leadership Ethics Guest Lecture (online), University of Richmond, October 2021.
  • “Immigration, Sanctuary, and Civil Disobedience,” 78th Annual Midwest Political Science Association Conference, Chicago, April 2020 (accepted, but conference canceled due to COVID-19).
  • “Philosophy Internships,” Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization (PLATO), San Diego, California, June 2020 (accepted, but conference canceled due to COVID-19).
  • “A Tale of Two Cities: Immigration, Sanctuary, and Law Enforcement,” 36th International Social Philosophy Conference, University of San Francisco, California, July 2019.
  • “The Human Rights of Political Refugees,” American Philosophical Association, Central Meeting, Kansas City, Missouri, March 2017.
  • “The State, Race, Privacy, and Equality: A Rights-Based Approach to Racial-Profiling,” AMINTAPHIL Conference, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, October 2016.
  • “The Plausibility of Legitimacy as a Motivating Reason for Enforcing International Human Rights Law,” Midwest Political Science Association 2016 Conference, April 2016
  • “Universal Human Rights as a Limit on the Legitimate Exercise of Political Authority,” 8th Global Conference: Multiculturalism, Conflict and Belonging, Mansfield College, Oxford, United Kingdom, September 2014.
  • “An Analysis of Equality: Respecting Women and Respecting Cultural Diversity,” 31st International Social Philosophy Conference, Southern Oregon University, Ashland, Oregon, July 2014.
  • “Animal Rights and Animal Experimentation,” Invited Guest Speaker, Center for Practical and Professional Ethics, California State University, Sacramento, California, October 2013.
  • “Justice without Violence: Analyzing Alternatives to Force,” Justice: Violence and Forgiveness Conference, International Political Science Association, Research Committee on Political Philosophy, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, May 2013.