Los Angeles – Today, UCLA’s Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) and the Seminar Migration, Inequality and Public Policies (MIGDEP) of El Colegio de México (COLMEX) jointly released “Moving Beyond Externalization in the U.S.-Mexico Relationship” a paper that proposes ways to reimagine the U.S.-Mexico relationship with respect to migration. Migration policies between the two countries have historically been characterized by externalization, a process by which the United States shifts migration controls beyond its borders into Mexico, in an effort to prevent certain migrants from reaching the United States in the first place.  

The proposals in the paper invite policymakers, scholars, and advocates in both countries to collaborate on imagining and establishing new, viable migration pathways that safeguard the safety of asylum seekers and address pressure at the physical border. The paper highlights the urgent need to work together across borders amid the global rise of authoritarianism and anti-immigrant sentiment.

“The present moment is one of immediate urgency in immigration policy, but it’s also essential to delve deeper and to examine foundational issues, among them how the governments of the United States and Mexico work together in responding to migration. This pathbreaking report diagnoses current problems with this collaboration and charts a more positive path forward,” said Hiroshi Motomura, Susan Westerberg Prager Distinguished Professor of Law and Faculty Co-Director, Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law (CILP).

The concept for this paper emerged from discussions on migration law and policy at a binational convening hosted by MIGDEP of COLMEX and CILP in Mexico City in August 2024.

“This collaboration between MIGDEP and CILP aimed to rethink Mexico-U.S. migration by creating a bridge between professions, disciplines, and geographies. We analyzed potential alternatives to externalization policies, by analyzing the different costs created by limiting the physical access to the border and punishing those on the move,” said Claudia Masferrer, Associate Professor, Centre for Demographic, Urban, and Environmental Studies (CEDUA) and Coordinator of the Seminar Migration, Inequality and Public Policies (MIGDEP), El Colegio de México (COLMEX).

CILP and MIGDEP hosted a webinar February 26 to discuss the policy paper.

“The dismantling of institutions and norms that we are experiencing in this moment presents tremendous challenges, but also opportunities to reimagine and reshape the U.S.-Mexico relationship on migration,” said Talia Inlender, Deputy Director, Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law (CILP). “We hope the paper’s recommendations provide a helpful starting point for advocates, scholars and policymakers to chart a path forward grounded in transparency and dignity.”

The webinar discussed layers of the paper that explore how transparency into bilateral agreements, prioritizing protection over enforcement in policymaking, and partnerships between civil society and academia can reshape the U.S.-Mexico relationship with respect to migration.

“It is hard to imagine a more challenging moment for cooperating bilaterally in a perspective that upholds migrants’ rights and dignity. This situation represents a hard test for the resilience of institutions in charge of migration governance and perhaps it is a chance to revamp them, on the Mexican side, in a direction towards gaining more transparency and legitimacy” Luicy Pedroza, Assistant Professor of the Centre for International Studies, El Colegio de México.

The paper was authored by Sofía López Franco, a Staff Attorney at CILP, with input from convening organizers and participants.

In this challenging moment, nongovernmental actors—including in academia and legal advocacy spaces—are uniquely positioned to come together to reimagine the U.S.-Mexico relationship, work to solve shared challenges, and push government actors toward solutions that protect the safety and dignity of migrants,” said Sofía López Franco, Staff Attorney, Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law (CILP). “We hope the recommendations in this paper provide concrete and actionable examples of these types of collaborations, unconstrained by traditional silos.”

“Moving Beyond Externalization in the U.S.-Mexico Relationship,” is the first in a series that aims to propose ways to reimagine the U.S.-Mexico relationship with respect to migration.

LINK TO PAPER: ENGLISH  SPANISH  

WEBINAR RECORDING  

Founded in 2020, the Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) at the UCLA School of Law expands the law school's role as a national leader in immigration law and policy, generating innovative ideas at the intersection of immigration scholarship and practice and serving as a hub for transforming those ideas into meaningful changes in immigration policy.    

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