Marking the World Social Forum: GIGA Researchers Discuss Migration Policies in Mexico

As the World Social Forum on migration gets underway in Mexico, public interest in migration management has reached new heights. The current movement of a migrant caravan from Central America across the Mexican border is also lending special urgency to the topic and the Mexican case.

On the occasion of the forum, experts working in the field of migration policy – including members of public administrations, civil society, academia, and international cooperation organisations – came together in Mexico City on 25 and 26 October 2018 for a two-day workshop entitled “New Challenges for Migration Policies in Mexico between Emigration, Immigration, Transit and Return – An Appraisal from the Research in Mexico and Germany”. It was organised by the German service provider for international development cooperation GIZ, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, and the GIGA.

The workshop approached the topic of migration from multiple angles and discussed the role of policy coherence in migration governance. GIGA researchers Dr. Luicy Pedroza, Pau Palop García, and So Young Chang summarised the results in a paper that included a recommended course of action for the newly elected Mexican government, taking into account Mexico’s transition from a country of emigration to a transit and destination country for immigrants, returnees, and asylum seekers.

The GIGA’s component of the workshop was conceived by the team of the research project “Every Immigrant Is an Emigrant: How Migration Policies Shape the Paths to Integration” (IMISEM). The three-year project, funded via a Leibniz Competition, seeks to adopt a comprehensive view of migration policy. Using a comparative area studies approach, it is gathering cross-regional evidence from Europe, Latin America, and Asia on the variety and depth of policy configurations governing migration trajectories.