The implications of migration policies on migrant worker mixed families: The case of Filipinos in Israel

Abstract

The ever-growing worldwide phenomenon of transnational labor migration has resulted in the increase of families formed by migrant workers in destination countries. While scholarly attention has mainly focused on the transnational families of migrant workers, the formation of mixed families involving migrants in host countries has rarely been studied. Based on a qualitative and quantitative study of the Filipino migrant worker community in Israel, this paper explores the dynamics of mixed families within this community. The family formation of Filipino migrants in Israel reveals two main categories of mixed families: one consisting of a migrant worker and a local citizen, and the other consisting of two migrant workers of different origins. I proposed the terminologies “suspect mixed families” and “fragile mixed families” to emphasize the crucial impact of migration policies on the dynamics of these families.