MigrationChapter 3

Migration

• Migration A change in residence that is intended to be permanent.

• Emigration-leaving a country.

• Immigration-entering a country.

Little Haiti, Miami, Florida

• On average, Americans move once every 6 years.• US population is the most mobile in the world with

over 5 million moving from 1 state to another every year.

• 35 million move within a state, county or community each year.

• Migration a key factor in the speed of diffusion of ideas and innovation.

• Our perception of distance and direction are often distorted-thus a sizable % of migrants return to their original home due to these distorted perceptions.

Types of Migration• Forced Migration-migrants

have no choice-must leave.• periodic movement-short term

(weeks or months) seasonal migration to college, winter in the south, etc.

• Cyclic movement-daily movement to work, shopping.

• Transhumance-seasonal pastoral farming-Switzerland, Horn of Africa.

• Nomadism-cyclical, yet irregular migration that follows the growth of vegetation.

Commuter train in Soweto,South Africa

From 12 to 30 million Africans were forced from their homelands in the 18th century. It took

generations to restore the population balance.

Catalysts of Migration (Push-Pull Factors-push factors induce people to leave. Pull factors encourage people to move to an area.)

• Economic conditions-poverty and a desire for opportunity.

• Political conditions-persecution, expulsion, or war.

• Environmental conditions-crop failures, floods, drought, environmentally induced famine.

• Culture and tradition-threatened by change.

• Technology-easier and cheaper transport or change in livability.

Economic Conditions – Migrants will often risk their lives in hopes of economic opportunities that will enable them to send money home (remittances) to their family members who remain behind.

Most illegal immigrants are Mexicans, but a growing numberAre from Central and South America, like the men waitingOutside of “Bar Honduras” in Nuevo Laredo.

• A massive dump site in Arizona’s Upper Altar Valley. After walking 40 miles through the desert, illegal immigrants are met here by coyotes. They are told to dump their old clothes & packs and put on more “American” looking clothes the coyotes have brought. They then begin the trip to an urban stash house.

Environmental Conditions –In Montserrat, a 1995 volcano made the southern half of the island, including the capital city of Plymouth, uninhabitable. People who remained migrated to the north or to the U.S.

Economic OpportunitiesIslands of Development –Places within a region or country where foreign investment, jobs, and infrastructure are concentrated.

Economic OpportunitiesIn late 1800s and early 1900s, Chinese migrated throughout Southeast Asia to work in trade, commerce, and finance.

Reconnecting Cultural Groups•About 700,000 Jews migrated to then-Palestine between 1900 and 1948.•After 1948, when the land was divided into two states (Israel and Palestine), 600,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were pushed out of newly-designated Israeli territories.

Jerusalem, Israel: Jewish settlements on the West Bank.

Distance Decay weighs into the decision to migrate, leading many migrants to move less far than they originally contemplate.

Voluntary Migration – Migrants weigh push and pull factors to decide first, to emigrate from the home country

and second, where to go.

RefugeesA person who flees across an international boundary because of a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.

Characteristics of RefugeesCharacteristics of Refugees• Move with only what they can carry or

easily transport.• Most move first on foot, bicycle,

wagon or open boat-very low tech. transport.

• Most have no official documentation such as passports, identification or other official papers.

Ernst Ravenstein’s “Laws of migration”Ernst Ravenstein’s “Laws of migration”1885 he studied the migration of England1885 he studied the migration of England

• Most migrants go only a short distance.• Big cities attract long distance migrants.• Most migration is step-by-step.• Most migration is rural to urban• Each migration flow produces a counterflow.• Most migrants are adults-families are less

likely to make international moves.• Most international migrants are young males.

Historic US MigrationHistoric US Migration• Westward to the frontier.• Black migration to

northern cities in WWI and WWII period

• 1950s, 60s Cubans to Florida from Castro’s Cuba

• In recent decades the migration from the Rust belt to the Sunbelt took place.

• Some blacks returned to the South

Migrants face obstacles

• Quota Laws-limit the number of immigrants from a particular country– Today: 480,000 family-sponsored immigrants

plus 140,000 employment-related immigrants– Brain Drain: preference is given to educated

immigrants thus causing a lack in their home countries

Guest Workers or Time-Contract Workers

• Guest workers – migrants whom a country allows in to fill a labor need, assuming the workers will go “home” once the labor need subsides.

- have short term work visas- send remittances to home country- France-many from Algeria- Germany-many from Turkey,

Eastern Europe

Cultural Problems • U.S. attitudes toward immigrants

Post-September 11

The EndThe End