Immigrant Voices in National and International Policymaking

Immigrant communities have daily experiences with the realities of regional integration and strong cross border economic and social connections. As transnational communities, they form a natural constituency for regional development policies. Rather than being seen as "victims" of globalization, immigrants have an enormous potential to be protagonists in the development of transnational mechanisms for democratic participation.

Over the past decade, many organized groups of migrants from Latin America, particularly from Mexico and Central America, have begun to form at the local, state, and in some cases, national levels. However, migrant-led organizations have been strikingly absent from most policy debates. They are underrepresented from civil society dialogues and advocacy processes around policies that impact their communities.

With the goal of promoting immigrant voices in the formulation of national and international policieis, Enlaces América created opportunities for dialogue, both between immigrant leaders as well with other civil society leaders and members of government.

Enlaces América's core programming in this area will be taken up by the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC).Connect to the NALACC website.