From Defectors to Partners? Home country development and Latin American immigrant organizations in the U.S.

This comparative study of migrant organizations in the United States and their contributions to their countries of origin (Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Mexico) explores the variations by nationality in the type of projects these organizations support, and in the entities that serve them as counterparts for carrying out these projects in their home countries. The paper also discusses the differences between sending states' programs to involve nationals abroad, as well as their organizations, in efforts of national development. Given the mostly rural character of the Mexican migration and the tradition of state involvement in the organization of civil society, the Mexican state has been successful in involving hometown associations and federations in state programs of development. This is not the case of the mostly urban, middle-class Colombian migrants, whose organizations, independent from the state, have often followed a more traditional philanthropic model. The Colombian private sector and not the state, has been the one proposing an alternative "efficient model of social investment" to migrants abroad. It is not the case, either, of Dominican migrant organizations, which, in spite of the programs designed by the new administration to involve the Diaspora with national development, are more attuned with the political parties than with the state [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]