Migration and development in advanced societies. A view from Latin America

Abstract

The discussion on the relationship between migration and development has been hegemonaized  by perspective of host countries and international organizations. In the past decade it has established the analysis of international migration from the perspective of national security in host countries. In this years has taken hold conservative political positions that support the criminalization of undocumented migration, and driving various immigration control policies. Given this view, we propose to move on from the approach of the "management migration", to one of the so-called "migration governance," which seeks to include the rights and interests of migrants in the center of the debate. What we want to show in this paper, is that the hegemonic perspective has invisiblized both economic and demographic conditions of the destination countries that support and give space to immigration, and the contribution of these immigrants to the dynamics of the economy and reproduction of these societies. We expose estimates of the contribution of Latin American immigrants to the economic and social dynamics of the United States and Spain, the main destination of this migration flow. For this, we provide sustenance in the analysis of quantitative data and information from official statistics of both countries and the development of an analytical model that seeks to provide a comprehensive view of the role of international migration on social reproduction in demographic and economic advanced societies.