Unit 4 Discussion 1
Immigration
Immigrants refer to individuals who come to a state in which they were not born with the intention of remaining permanent residents in the new countries. The International Organization for Immigration approximates that there are over 200 million immigrants across the globe today with Europe having the highest number of immigrants (Hero & Preuhs, 2007). Immigrants highly arrive through legal channels. In 2010, there were 39.9 million foreign-born individuals in the United States of which 44% represented naturalized citizens, 29% were unauthorized immigrants, 24% represented the legal permanent residents, and the remaining 3% represented the temporary legal residents such as workers or students (Center for American Progress, 2012). This is the classification or categorization of immigrants by the United States government. A majority of immigrants in the U.S. have made a home. It is, however, important to note that there are increasing numbers of undocumented immigrants who are settling in the United States. In the U.S., there are laws and policies that define who should be allowed and who should be left out. Age limits who should be allowed in the State unless if they are sponsored by relatives living there. An immigrant should be free from infectious diseases meaning that those who are sick are not allowed in. they must not have any criminal records. In addition, immigrants should have adequate financial support.
Increased law enforcement by the U.S. government is not encouraging immigrants to go back to their homes. In addition, self-deportation policies do not result in large-scale resettlement. Like other actors in the U.S. economy, immigrants are averse to losing their investments in the region. There are various myths that surround immigration as a whole. One of the myths is that immigrants drain the social services of the U.S (ACLU, 2008). The truth, however, is that, through social security and paying taxes, they make a greater contribution to the government revenues that are used to offer such services (ACLU, 2008). Their contribution is more than what they use in social services. Another myth is that they have a negative effect on the nation’s salaries, citizens’ wages, and take away jobs from citizens. The reality is that immigration has, in fact, a positive impact on the economy of the U.S. as a whole, as well as, on people’s income. There is a myth that they do not want to learn English especially Latino immigrants. The truth is that they believe that the English language is crucial if they want to succeed in the United States. The myth that they do not want to become citizens is also false as a majority of them seek citizenship even with the obstacles presented. They do not bring crime to the American towns and cities as many people believe (ACLU, 2008).
On a broad scale, population movements are as a result of political, social, and economic reasons. For example, they may be driven by a number of reasons including education, employment, and other human needs (Ousey & Kubrin, 2007). There are even movements among immigrants. For instance, undocumented immigrants who live in anti-immigrant states or regions are moving to friendlier neighboring regions and states, whose laws are not very strict. Underdeveloped nations understand and duffer from various challenges at the economic level. This makes individuals to move into developed nations including the United States in search of jobs and money. In addition, poverty pushes people to look for jobs to earn a living and cater for their needs, which may not be possible in their home countries. Therefore, the drive to improve their social situation leads to immigration (Nandi et al., 2008). Political reasons also result in immigration in that there are civil wars especially in underdeveloped countries that make people move from their countries in search of peace. For economic reasons, a majority of underdeveloped nations suffer from lower incomes and salaries that drive a majority of people to consider immigration. Furthermore, the nations may not offer all its citizens adequate jobs particularly for the younger generation, which is regarded as new comers to the employment market. A majority of them end up shocked when they realize that the jobs in the market are not enough. They resort to travelling to other countries such as the United States to look for employment. The problem of the migration of youngsters is that of brain drain for their countries particularly when the countries are in need of their skills and knowledge (Mattoo, Neagu, & Ozde, 2008).
References
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