Bio:
Roy Germano is a senior research scholar and adjunct associate professor at New York University. He holds in a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.A. in international relations from the University of Chicago. He made The Other Side of Immigration while collecting survey data in rural Mexico as a National Science Foundation Fellow.
Roy is also an author. His new book is called Outsourcing Welfare: How the Money Immigrants Send Home Contributes to Stability in Developing Countries (Oxford University Press). His research has appeared in a number of scholarly journals, including Migration Studies, Latino Studies, Research & Politics, Perspectives on Politics, the NYU Law Review, Electoral Studies, and others. He has contributed to a variety of media outlets, including CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, NPR, Univision, Telemundo, and many others.
His other documentary films include A Mexican Sound and Immigrant America, which was broadcast by Vice News.
Roy Germano's Outsourcing Welfare shows how international migrants have assumed a social welfare burden once reserved for national governments. The hundreds of billions of dollars they send to their home countries each year helps millions of families pay for food, healthcare, housing, and education. This money--known as "remittances"--is three times larger than aid sent by the world's richest countries. It fills an important welfare gap throughout the developing world in an era of austerity and neoliberal globalization. Based on ethnographic research in Mexico and Central American and analyses of survey data from 50 countries in Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Middle East. Published in 2018 by Oxford University Press.
An "illuminating book" that "addresses an important but often overlooked consequence of international migration"
- Richard N. Cooper, Foreign Affairs
"In the present political climate, it is difficult not to read Roy Germano's book as a warning. With the rise in nationalistic rhetoric in some wealthy democracies focused on erecting barriers to migration, Outsourcing Welfare points to the serious harm that building walls may cause to people living in poorer states."
- Michael Tyburski, Perspectives on Politics
“A major contribution to the field...the first comprehensive study on the relationship between remittances and political behavior.”
- David Doyle, University of Oxford
“Germano is masterful in making us see immigration ‘from the other side.'”
- Douglas S. Massey, Princeton University
THE OTHER SIDE OF IMMIGRATION
An award-winning documentary by Roy Germano about why millions of Mexicans have immigrated to the U.S. in recent decades and what has happened to the families and communities they left behind. Through an approach that is both subtle and thought-provoking, The Other Side of Immigration provides a perspective on undocumented immigration rarely witnessed by American eyes, challenging audiences to imagine more creative and effective solutions. A 2011 American Library Association Notable Video and invited selection at hundreds of film festivals, museums, universities, and community events.
“The Other Side of Immigration does more than any other work to give people otherwise disparaged as ‘threatening’ and ‘illegal’ a human face and to reveal the devastating personal effects of U.S. immigration and economic policies on our closest neighbors.”
- Douglas S. Massey, Princeton University
“The Other Side of Immigration is an intelligent, thought-provoking, beautiful, and caring look at the costs of policies in Mexico and the United States that lead to illegal immigration by so many. It is an understatement to say that the film has made me think...”
- Liza Finkel, Portland State University
“I recommend The Other Side of Immigration with enthusiasm for a wide range of audiences, including community groups, higher education institutions, public schools, and policy makers.”
- Scott Fletcher, Lewis & Clark College