Sponsored Migration: The State and Puerto Rican Postwar Migration to the United States

A groundbreaking examination of how Puerto Rican migration to the United States was shaped by government policy and U.S. colonial interests.

In Sponsored Migration: The State and Puerto Rican Postwar Migration to the United States, Edgardo Meléndez explores the forces behind the massive movement of Puerto Ricans to the United States from the late 1940s through the 1960s. Challenging the tendency to overlook Puerto Rico in broader discussions of Latino migration and transnationalism, Meléndez places Puerto Rican migration at the center of the political and economic history of the Americas.

The book examines how concerns about Puerto Rico’s growing population, the demands of U.S. industries for labor, and the consequences of U.S. imperialism shaped migration policies during the postwar period. Rather than viewing migration simply as an individual or family decision, Meléndez demonstrates the crucial role played by the Puerto Rican government in actively encouraging, organizing, and facilitating the movement of its population.

From recruiting workers for U.S. agriculture and helping migrants settle in cities such as New York to expanding air transportation and even incorporating migration into the public school system, the book reveals the many ways government institutions promoted migration as an economic and political strategy.

Drawing on extensive historical research, Sponsored Migration offers a new perspective on Puerto Rican migration while illuminating the complex relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States from 1898 onward. An essential work for readers interested in Puerto Rican history, migration, colonialism, labor, and the broader Latino experience in the United States.