This volume investigates new migration patterns in the Americas addressing continuities and changes in existing population movements in the region. The book explores migration conditions and intersections across time and space relying on a multidisciplinary, collaborative approach that brings together the expertise of transnational scholars with diverse theoretical orientations, strengths, and methodological approaches. Some of the themes this edited volume explores include main features of contemporary migration in the Americas; causes, composition, and patterns of new migration flows; and state policies enacted to meet the challenges posed by new developments in migration flows.

A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press's Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. As international migration continues to rise, sending states play an integral part in "managing" their diasporas, in some cases even stepping in to protect their citizens' labor and human rights in receiving states. At the same time, meso-level institutions-including labor unions, worker centers, legal aid groups, and other immigrant advocates-are among the most visible actors holding governments of immigrant destinations accountable at the local level. The potential for a functional immigrant worker rights regime, therefore, advocates to imagine a portable, universal system of justice and human rights, while simultaneously leaning on the bureaucratic minutiae of local enforcement. Taking Mexico and the United States as entry points, Scaling Migrant Worker Rights analyzes how an array of organizations put tactical pressure on government bureaucracies to holistically defend migrant rights. The result is a nuanced, multilayered picture of the impediments to and potential realization of migrant worker rights.

* Offers a fundamental account of the evolution of migration in Latin America * Broad study of the subject and interdisciplinary in nature (relevant to scholars of history, sociology, political science, anthropology, and geography) * Covers a period of 150 years and brings the subject up to the present day * Distinct transnational and transatlantic analysis on the migration experience and dynamics anchored in, to, and from Latin America

This volume investigates new migration patterns in the Americas addressing continuities and changes in existing population movements in the region. The book explores migration conditions and intersections across time and space relying on a multidisciplinary, collaborative approach that brings together the expertise of transnational scholars with diverse theoretical orientations, strengths, and methodological approaches. Some of the themes this edited volume explores include main features of contemporary migration in the Americas; causes, composition, and patterns of new migration flows; and state policies enacted to meet the challenges posed by new developments in migration flows.

Collecting the diverse perspectives of scholars, labor organizers, and human-rights advocates, Accountability across Borders is the first edited collection that connects studies of immigrant integration in host countries to accounts of transnational migrant advocacy efforts, including case studies from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Covering the role of federal, state, and local governments in both countries of origin and destinations, as well as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), these essays range from reflections on labor solidarity among members of the United Food and Commercial Workers in Toronto to explorations of indigenous students from the Maya diaspora living in San Francisco. Case studies in Mexico also discuss the enforcement of the citizenship rights of Mexican American children and the struggle to affirm the human rights of Central American migrants in transit. As policies regarding immigration, citizenship, and enforcement are reaching a flashpoint in North America, this volume provides key insights into the new dynamics of migrant civil society as well as the scope and limitations of directives from governmental agencies.

Chicago is home to the second-largest Mexican immigrant population in the United States, yet the activities of this community have gone relatively unexamined by both the media and academia. In this groundbreaking new book, Xochitl Bada takes us inside one of the most vital parts of Chicago's Mexican immigrant community--its many hometown associations.
Hometown associations (HTAs) consist of immigrants from the same town in Mexico and often begin quite informally, as soccer clubs or prayer groups. As Bada's work shows, however, HTAs have become a powerful force for change, advocating for Mexican immigrants in the United States while also working to improve living conditions in their communities of origin. Focusing on a group of HTAs founded by immigrants from the state of Michoacan, the book shows how their activism has bridged public and private spheres, mobilizing social reforms in both inner-city Chicago and rural Mexico.
Bringing together ethnography, political theory, and archival research, Bada excavates the surprisingly long history of Chicago's HTAs, dating back to the 1920s, then traces the emergence of new models of community activism in the twenty-first century. Filled with vivid observations and original interviews, "Mexican Hometown Associations in Chicagoacan" gives voice to an underrepresented community and sheds light on an underexplored form of global activism.

Collecting the diverse perspectives of scholars, labor organizers, and human-rights advocates, Accountability across Borders is the first edited collection that connects studies of immigrant integration in host countries to accounts of transnational migrant advocacy efforts, including case studies from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Covering the role of federal, state, and local governments in both countries of origin and destinations, as well as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), these essays range from reflections on labor solidarity among members of the United Food and Commercial Workers in Toronto to explorations of indigenous students from the Maya diaspora living in San Francisco. Case studies in Mexico also discuss the enforcement of the citizenship rights of Mexican American children and the struggle to affirm the human rights of Central American migrants in transit. As policies regarding immigration, citizenship, and enforcement are reaching a flashpoint in North America, this volume provides key insights into the new dynamics of migrant civil society as well as the scope and limitations of directives from governmental agencies.