From Here and There: Diaspora Policies, Integration, and Social Rights Beyond Borders

Pau Palop-García of the Institute of Latin American Studies and German Institute of Global and Area Studies reviews From Here and There: Diaspora Policies, Integration, and Social Rights Beyond Borders by Alexandra Délano Alonso. This book examines how Mexico and other countries of origin of Latin American migrants in the United States have increasingly taken part in assisting immigrants through their consular representations, with the stated goal of addressing the needs and protecting the rights of precarious status migrants. These diaspora policies—focused on the provision of social services for emigrants in their country of destination as a way to support their well-being and access to opportunities to participate as community members in the places where they live—are one of the clearest manifestations of the reconceptualization of the boundaries of citizenship and the rights and obligations that come with it. These cases reveal how origin countries can play an important role in providing resources to support migrants’ access to social rights in the country of destination, an area of migration governance that is rarely discussed as a space for collaboration between governments, civil society, migrants, and international institutions. At the same time, the expansion of rights across borders offers an opportunity to re-examine questions of state accountability and responsibility regarding the causes of emigration as well as the protection of rights for returning migrants.

Read the book review at https://doi.org/10.1177/0197918319855070.