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Proposes that US immigration policies should incorporate emerging perspectives on migration and development from Latin America
Introduction
In the spring of 2006, millions of immigrants and sympathizers took to the streets around the US to protest against proposed national legislation that declared it a felony to be an undocumented immigrant.1 The mega-marches inspired new dialogues about the need for comprehensive immigration reform, now a high priority subject of US political discussion, along with a rise in anti-immigrant backlash and xenophobia. At the heart of the debate is the delicate and emotional question of how to deal with undocumented immigration, with a particular focus on Latinos from Central America and Mexico.
Such dialogues about immigration reform need to take into account perspectives coming out of Latin America, and the priorities and interests of migrants themselves. Latin American-based political perspectives on migration focus on the implications of migration for communities and families in Latin America and its relationship to various development questions. What is useful in turning to these perspectives is that they collectively highlight the need to actively work towards building a right not to migrate as much as a right to migrate. They direct us towards the question of how to think about contemporary migration politics from a more transnational lens, in ways that also incorporate efforts to build viable alternatives to migration in Latin America. The situation of El Salvador allows us to look more closely at what forms of development would take us in the direction of viable alternatives, and the role of human mobility in these processes.
In order to examine the political terrain of migration and development in El Salvador, I look at the experience of Salvadoran migrants in the US which signals that legalizing mobility of undocumented migrants could play an important role in opening up paths towards more sustainable development and viable livelihoods in places of migrant origin.
Re-thinking migration and development in El Salvador
Migration has turned into a common, highly naturalized social practice and a regular option for many people in El Salvador. Migration has long been celebrated in State-led discourses that paint a heroic image of the migrant who works hard in the US and faithfully remits to support his family (Baker-Cristales, 2004); encouraging migration...