When immigrants to the United States need to learn English, receive health services, open a bank account or get a work certification, US state and local governments or non-profit organizations usually assist as part of the process of supporting immigrant integration and, ultimately, citizenship. But over the past two decades, Mexico, and other origin countries of migrants have been increasingly filling gaps in these activities through their consular representations, particularly focusing on populations with precarious legal status. Put in the larger context of diaspora policies, these practices -- focused on establishing closer ties between the origin country and the emigrant population and protecting their rights through the provision of social services -- are one of the clearest manifestations of the reconceptualization of the boundaries of citizenship and the rights and obligations that come with it. This book looks at citizenship and immigrant integration from the perspective of countries of origin: specifically the processes through which Mexico and other Latin American countries are establishing programs to give their emigrant populations better access to education, health, banking, labor rights, language acquisition and civic participation in the United States. While immigrant integration is often assumed as an issue that mainly concerns the population and institutions of the country of destination, these cases demonstrate the role that origin countries play in supporting migrants' access to opportunities to participate as members of the societies they are a part of, challenging the limits of citizenship and sovereignty, and offering examples of innovative practices in the protection of migrants' rights. As an area of migration governance that is rarely discussed, this book offers a critical evaluation of these programs and their impact on emigrants, particularly on those who are undocumented or have precarious legal status, and the collaborations between governments and civil society groups on which the programs are based.

About the Author
Alexandra Delano Alonso is Associate Professor of Global Studies at The New School and the current holder of the Eugene M. Lang Professorship for Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring. Her work is driven by a concern with the inequalities underlying the causes of migration, the structures that lead to the marginalization of undocumented migrants in the public sphere, and the limited protection of their rights, from a transnational perspective. Her book Mexico and Its Diaspora in the United States: Policies of Emigration since 1848 was the co-winner of the William LeoGrande Prize for the best book on US-Latin America Relations.

Reviews
All in all, this book shows evidence of how states of origin can have a positive influence on the integration of their citizens living in other countries. Thus, it is a highly recommendable read for policy-makers involved in the formulation of integration and diaspora policies; academic colleagues interested in the study of transnationalism, citizenship and integration policies; and for migrants themselves, the book's main protagonist, since they will surely be inspired to find new ways of organizing and new areas of mobilization. * Pau Palop-Garcia, Institue of Latin American Studies, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, International Migration Review *
Alexandra Delano Alonso's work...provides valuable insights for a further reconceptualization of theories of immigrant integration. * Lara Wilhelmine Hoffmann, Nordicum-Mediterraneum *
Delano's research remains especially relevant in the current U.S. era of nativism, enhanced immigration enforcement, and a hardening retrenchment of services that is harming low-wage immigrants in particular. Delano's account poses important questions about the limits of bilateral coordination around immigrant wellbeing, especially when the administration of the receiving country seems more interested in building physical, as well as economic and political, walls with its southern neighbours. * Shannon Gleeson, Ethnic and Racial Studies *



Book Information
ISBN 9780190688578
Author Alexandra Delano Alonso
Format Hardback
Page Count 256
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 505g
Dimensions(mm) 163mm * 236mm * 18mm