Undergraduate Honors Thesis

 

The Policy Gap: Argentina’s Current Migration Law and Realities for Bolivian Migrants Public Deposited

https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/undergraduate_honors_theses/5h73px40b
Abstract
  • Policymaking intentions compared to law in practice are inevitably varied. One of the purposes of gap studies is to examine the breach between policy and reality. This research adopts the structure of a gap study to understand exactly how Argentina’s 2004 New Migration Law is different in practice than it is written in law. The law grants social services, including health care, to all migrants within the country, regardless of migratory status. However, in reality, this law does not function ideally. The research identifies how the gap in policy and practice exists and explores a specific example of how the rift affects immigrants’ access to the health care system. Bolivian migrants in Argentina are specifically subject to the effects of the policy gap due to social and political discrimination and racism. To complete the study, a qualitative data analysis method was employed. News sources published in Argentina before and after the implementation of the New Law were utilized as primary sources. Through diligent application of codes, a structure was applied to the textual data that allowed for a cohesive and comparative analysis. The findings show that discrimination has persisted in several ways despite the implementation of the anti-discriminatory New Migration Law. First, stigmatization of immigrants by the government through words, actions, and policymaking. Second, the attitudes represented by policymakers are mirrored in society, with racism and the use of derogatory language serving as examples of informal discrimination that persists. Continued discrimination represents the gap in policy, and the health care system is one area where immigrants contend with the effects of the gap. Stigmas act not only as social challenges, but also as barriers to the health care system for Bolivian migrants.

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  • 2021-04-05
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  • 2021-04-11
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