Role of Local Governments in Immigrant Integration: Cases from Thailand and Japan

There are much discussion on immigration at the national state level, focusing on their immigration and citizenship status. However, it is at the same time recognized that there are many migrants who do not go through the official procedure of immigration and come to live in the country on their own. Local governments need to face these migrants on a day-to-day basis, since these migrants live there as residents. We focus on this vacuum of migration policy at the local level. How are the local governments coping with migrants and how are they balancing their accountability to local residents and their accountability to national state regarding migration policies? We will take cases from Thailand (Tak and Samut Prakan) and Japan (Yokohama city) to explore the struggles of local governments and communities.