UCLA

The Mexican state of Sinaloa has not developed diaspora policies directed to the Sinaloan Diaspora in the United States, even though the economic and social contributions to the state are significant and despite the existence of a significant group of Sinaloans in a situation of extreme vulnerability due to their precarious legal status. Current literature on diaspora policies has not developed a framework to understand atypical cases such as the case of Sinaloa. I developed a mixed method research design case study of state-diaspora relations in the Sinaloa-Los Angeles transnational field. I argue that political, economic, and organizational factors explain the absence of diaspora policies. Findings suggest that this is due to anti-democratic orientations of Sinaloan local governments, lack of strong Sinaloan Hometown Associations, and low remittance dependency at the state level. Only municipalities with few resources have developed a relationship with the diaspora or are willing to do so.