ABSTRACT
This chapter develops a typology of portable justice strategies to advance migrant worker rights in North America. We consider different models that transnational advocacy networks have adopted, including those prompted by free trade agreements in this region. The chapter maps the challenges that shape and constrain the decisions these organizations adopt, including funding limitations, mission foci, and the civil society infrastructure in both the origin and destination countries. Focusing on migrant rights advocacy over the last twenty years, we examine how organizations identify to which migrant communities they will outreach (such as H2 workers and the undocumented), what scale of policies to target (domestic, bilateral or international), and the varying models of service provision to deploy on the ground. To do so, we consider Mexico as both a recipient and sender of an exploitable migrant labor force, and attempt to construct a field of transnational migrant advocacy poised to defend migrants’ portable rights.
