Migraciones (Mar 2015)
Cats and aliens: family migration and integration policies in the community of Madrid
Abstract
The present article examines the ways of thinking the relations between immigration, integration and immigrant family condensed in the public policies directed to the immigrant population; taking as a case of study the Plans of integration elaborated by the Community of Madrid for the period from 2001 to 2012. From an anthropological perspective, political speeches on immigration in Spain are revised and also how integration policies have been established at the level of the Autonomous regions. The antecedents of integration policies in the Community of Madrid are raised, and the three plans of integration are analyzed. In these plans, the approach elaborated about the immigrant families has two sides: on the one hand immigrant family is considered as a basic unit to promote the adaptation process of the immigrants; on the other hand, immigrant family is identified as a new challenge, due to the vulnerability, especially high in the case of women and minors.
