MANAGED LABOR OR HUMAN RIGHTS: CONFLICTING DIRECTIONS FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM

Most of the world's migrants are people displaced from poor countries, traveling to wealthy ones. Their migration is increasingly organized by both the sending countries, increasingly dependent on the remittances sent home by overseas workers, and the receiving countries, which are dependent on their labor. In this global labor supply scheme, however, the rights of workers and the welfare of their communities are not recognized or protected. Yet migrants themselves are asserting new forms of citizenship and new political rights that would give them much greater protection and a much greater voice in this system. Ultimately, the greatest protection for workers and communities, however, is the solidarity among workers themselves.