This article discusses three major dilemmas embedded in women's labor migration by focusing on undocumented Latina migrants in Israel. The first is that to break the cycle of blocked mobility in their homelands, migrant women must take jobs that they would have never taken in their countries of origin, despite uncertainty about possible economic outcomes. The second dilemma is that the search for economic betterment leads Latina migrants to risk living and working illegally in the host country, forcing them to remain on the margins of society. The third dilemma relates to the role of mothers who, to secure a better future for their children, are forced to leave them behind, thus subverting the traditional definition of motherhood. The absence of an egalitarian notion and the practice of citizenship for non-Jews leave undocumented labor migrants in Israel without prospects for incorporation into the society.Alba is a 45-year-old widow from Colombia who arrived in Israel in 1996 as an undocumented migrant. She came alone, leaving her two sons back home under the care of her sister. In her hometown, where she earned $100 per month as a factory worker, Alba dreamed of having her own home and opening a small business. To achieve these goals, she needed a considerable sum of money, which was hard to save and even harder to get in loans or credit. A window of opportunity was opened when Alba was recommended to a family in Israel as a live-in domestic worker. Alba considered migration as a strategy for saving the money that she required in a relatively 727 AUTHORS' NOTE: This research was supported by the Israeli Science Foundation founded by the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. The authors wish to thank five anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and Christine Bose for her editorial suggestions. We are also grateful to Tamara Barsky, Alejandro Paz, and Valentin Nabel for their efficient research assistance and to Deborah Bernstein for her careful reading and helpful suggestions. A preliminary version of this article was presented at the annual conference of the FIELAC in April 1999. Direct all correspondence to Rebeca Raijman,

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This article examines the intersection of state policies, private brokers and local employers that fuels trafficking practices and forced labor of legal labor migrants. Focusing on the Israeli case of labor migration, we offer a meso‐level institutional analysis of the modes by which private brokers's actions combine with state regulations and policies in creating labor trafficking. More specifically, we stress the active role official labor migration schemes play in the growth of a private brokerage sector driven by profit considerations and in the privatization of state capacities regarding migration control and management. Our analysis demonstrates how systemic features – and not necessarily or solely criminal activities – catalyze trafficking practices taking place first and foremost within the realm of legal migration.

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