Chapter 3: Migration (Part 2) Key Issues
• Why do people migrate?
• Why do migrants face obstacles?
Why Do People Migrate?
• People decide to migrate because of a
combination of two factors.
– Push factors induce people to move out of
their present location.
– Pull factors induce people to move into a new
location.
• Three major types of push and pull factors
1. Political
2. Environmental
3. Economic
Reasons for Migrating
• Political factors can be especially
compelling push factors, forcing people to
migrate from a country.
• United Nations High Commissions for
Refugees recognizes three groups of
forced political migrants.
1. A refugee has been forced to migrate to
avoid a potential threat to his or her life, and
he or she cannot return for fear of
persecution.
Reasons for Migrating
2. An internally displaced person (IDP) is
similar to a refugee, but he or she has not
migrated across an international border.
3. An asylum seeker is someone who has
migrated to another country in hope of being
recognized as a refugee.
Reasons for Migrating
• Environmental factors can prompt
migration from hazardous environments or
pull migrants to attractive regions.
– Environmental Pull Factors
• Mountains
• Seasides
• Warm Climates
– Environmental Push Factors
• Water: most common environmental threat
– Flood
– Drought
Reasons for Migrating
• Most people migrate for economic
reasons.
– Push factor: migrate away from places with few
jobs
– Pull factor: migrate to places where jobs seem to
be available
• U.S. and Canada have been prominent
destinations for economic migrants.
– Historically individuals migrated from Europe.
– More recently Latin America and Asia are primary
senders.
Why Do Migrants Face Obstacles?
• Intervening obstacles, which hinder
migration, can be categorized into two
types.
1. Environmental Feature- i.e., mountain,
ocean, or distance
2. Political Feature- i.e., countries require
proper documentation to leave one country
and gain entry in another
Controlling Migration
• Countries have adopted selective
immigration policies.
– Preference shown for specific employment
placement and family reunification
• Passing of the Quota Act in 1921 and the
National Origins Act in 1924 by the U.S.
Congress marked the end of unrestricted
immigration to the U.S.
Controlling Migration
• More seek admission to the U.S. than is
permitted by the quotas, thus preferences
are shown toward:
• Family Reunification
– About ¾ of immigrants
• Skilled Workers
– Approximately ¼ of immigrants
– Sending countries alleged preference for skilled workers
contributes to brain drain- a term for the disproportionate
amount of highly skilled and intelligent citizens migrating
away from sending countries.
• Diversity
– A few immigrants admitted, because their sending country
historically has sent very few migrants
Unauthorized Immigration
• Unauthorized immigrants are those who
enter a country without proper documents.
• Characteristics of unauthorized immigrates
in the U.S.
– Source Country
• Roughly 58 percent emigrate from Mexico
– Children
• Of estimated 11.2 million unauthorized immigrants,
nearly 1 million are children.
• Unauthorized immigrants have given birth to 4.5 million
children on U.S. soil making the children U.S. citizens.
Unauthorized Immigration
– Years in the U.S.
• Duration of residency has increased for
unauthorized immigrants.
• In 2010, 35 percent of adults had been in U.S. for
at least 15 years.
– Labor Force
• Approximately 8 million unauthorized immigrants
are employed in the U.S.
– Distribution
• Texas and California have largest number of
unauthorized immigrants
Unauthorized Immigration
• Mexico’s Border with the United States
– View from the U.S. recognizes motives that
compel unauthorized immigrants to enter
illegally
• Employment Opportunities
• Family Reunification
• Better Way of Life
– View from Mexico is more complex
• Residents of northern Mexico wish for compassion
to be shown to unauthorized immigrants.
• Residents of southern Mexico are less tolerant
because of number of unauthorized immigrants
entering Mexico from Guatemala.
Attitudes toward Immigrants
• Immigration Concerns in the U.S.
– Most views of immigration by U.S. citizens are
ambivalent in nature.
• Border Patrol
– They would like more effective border control, but they
don’t want to spend more money to solve the issue.
• Workplace
– Most recognize that unauthorized immigrants take jobs
from U.S. citizens, but they understand most citizens
wouldn’t take the jobs so they support a path to U.S.
citizenship for these unauthorized immigrants.
Attitudes toward Immigrants
• Civil Rights
– U.S. citizens favor letting law enforcement officials stop
and verify the legal status of anyone, but they fear civil
rights will be infringed upon of U.S. citizens, as a result
of racial profiling.
• Local Initiatives
– Polls suggest U.S. citizens believe unauthorized
immigration is a pressing matter to the nation, but it
should only be dealt with at the federal level and not the
local level.
» Many were opposed to Arizona’s 2010 law that
obligated foreigners to carry a proof of citizenship
with them at all times.
» More than 100 localities across the nation support
additional rights for unauthorized immigrants—such
a movement is known as a “Sanctuary City.”
Attitudes toward Immigrants
• Immigration Concerns in Europe
– Population growth in Europe is fueled by
immigration from other regions of the world, a
trend disliked by many Europeans.
• Biggest fear is that the host country’s culture will
be lost, because immigrants:
– adhere to different religions
– speak different languages
– practice different food and other cultural habits
• Hostility to immigrants has become a central plank
of some political parties in many European
countries.
– Immigrants blamed for crime, unemployment rates, and
high welfare costs.
Attitudes toward Immigrants
• Europeans as Emigrants
– Inhospitable climate for immigrants in Europe
is especially ironic.
• Europe was the source of most of the world’s
emigrants, during the nineteenth century.
• Most Europeans fear losing their cultural heritage
to that of new immigrants, while:
– Indo-European languages are now spoken by half of the
world, as a result of European emigrants.
– Christianity has the world’s largest number of adherents.
– European art, music, literature, philosophy, and ethics
have diffused throughout the world.
Attitudes toward Immigrants
• Characteristics of Migrants
– Ravenstein noted:
• Most long-distance migrants are male.
• Most long-distance migrants are adult individuals
rather than families with children.
• Most long-distance migrants are young adults
seeking work rather than children or elderly
people.
Attitudes toward Immigrants
• Characteristics of Migrants
– More males migrated to the U.S. during the
nineteenth century and most of the twentieth
century.
• Gender reversed in 1990s when women
constituted about 55 percent of U.S. immigrants.
– Most likely a reflection of the changing role of women in
Mexican society.
– About 40 percent of immigrants in U.S. are
young adults between the ages of 25 and 39.
– Recent immigrants to the U.S. tend to be less
educated than U.S. citizens.
Summary
• On a global scale, the largest flows of
migrants are from Asia to Europe and from
Latin America to the U.S.
– Third-world to first-world
• The decision to migrate is a conclusion
influenced by a mixture of push and pull
factors.
• Migrants face obstacles in migrating not as
much by environmental factors anymore
but by political or cultural factors.
Summary
• Worldwide, the most prominent type of
intraregional migration is from rural areas
to urban areas. In the U.S., it is from cities
to suburbs.
• Americans and Europeans share mixed
views about immigration. They recognize
their importance to the local economy, but
key features of immigration trouble them.