Joel Sati

Joel Sati is an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Oregon School of Law. He holds a PhD in Jurisprudence and Social Policy from UC Berkeley, a JD from Yale Law School, and a BA in Philosophy (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from The City College of New York. His research focuses on crimmigration, criminal law, immigration law, privacy law, and moral philosophy. Sati’s work examines the intersection of criminal and immigration law through a philosophical lens, particularly the concept of 'illegalization' as a form of social degradation.

He is an immigrant rights activist since 2012, having organized campaigns at national and state levels. Sati’s activism and academic work are deeply intertwined, reflecting his personal experience as an 'illegalized immigrant.' He has been awarded the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans and the FOUNDATIONS OF CHANGE Thomas I. Yamashita Prize, among others. His writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Berkeley Blogs, and he has been featured on the Citations Needed podcast.

Prior to Oregon, Sati was affiliated with UC Berkeley’s law school and held fellowships at Harvard’s Immigration Initiative and the Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative. He has taught courses on black political thought and co-designed a course at CCNY exploring texts by W.E.B. Du Bois, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and others.