IMMIGRATION WHY DO THEY COME? Popular belief: Because they can. But: Only 3% of the global population migrates. SO…WHY SO FEW COME? WHAT ARE THE FACTORS THAT MOTIVATE SOME GROUPS, BUT NOT OTHERS, TO SEEK ENTRY INTO THE US?

 Common answer: poverty, squalor, unemployment in many foreign lands.  Neoclassical economic theories: labor migration flows occur because of an imbalance between labor demands and wages in sending and receiving areas. But: if that’s true the poorest countries in the world and the poorest groups within them would be the prime sources of migration.

They are not.  The flow of immigrants comes from middle- income nations and among groups that are relatively advantaged with respect to the source population.  That’s why the average educational and skill credentials of the immigrant population in US at present are not much inferior to those of the native-born.

Data and beliefs about immigrants : College degree: in % foreign born vs. 26.8% native-born. Popular belief: there’s an “invasion” by the world’s poor and oppressed. But: not all “poor” and “oppressed” come from the “poor” and “oppressed” countries. Why? The poorest of the poor lack the contact, the information, And the financial means to move.

The “new economics of migration”: migration is one strategies among others that a household, not an individual, decides to adopt as an investment for future earnings that will allow the household to afford a new car, or dwelling. So… the household sends a family member abroad to generate sufficient income to “catch-up” with a certain lifestyle or income already present in others.

Three things need to happen to migrate:  a demand for labor must exist.  labor demands must be made known.  opportunities must be desirable.

TYPES OF IMMIGRANTS HOW AND WHY DO THEY COME? LABOR IMMIGRANTS  They cross the border on foot or with the help of a smugglers (EWIs) or overstay a tourist visa in the US (visa abusers). In 2002, 1.06 million deportable aliens, of which 1.03 were EWIs. 96% were Mexicans.  They use a family reunification channel. In 2002, 26.7% of Mexicans admitted for legal residence came as family-sponsored entries.  They come as contract laborers.

TYPES OF IMMIGRANTS HOW AND WHY DO THEY COME? PROFESSIONAL IMMIGRANTS ( the “brain drain” in their own countries). A preference category: “Priority workers, professionals with advanced degrees. Or aliens of exceptional ability” In 2002 about 80,000 professionals and their families were admitted for permanent residence. The employment immigration represents 13% of the legal immigration and it’s the main conduit for the addition of highly trained personnel to the US labor force.  Data: ¼ of US foreign-born population are college graduates or higher  25% of foreign-born workers are in managerial and professional specialty occupations. Why do they come? The relative gap between available salaries and work conditions in their own countries and those that are normatively regarded as acceptable for people with their level of education.

TYPES OF IMMIGRANTS HOW AND WHY DO THEY COME? ENTREPRENEURIAL IMMIGRANTS Ex. The ethnic enclaves reality or areas of concentrated immigrant entrepreneurship. See Koreatown in Los Angeles or Little Havana in Miami.  presence of a number of immigrant with substantial business expertise from their home countries.  access to sources of capital  access to labor.

TYPES OF IMMIGRANTS HOW AND WHY DO THEY COME? REFUGEES AND ASYLEES  The Refugee Act of 1980: a refugee is anyone with a well-founded fear of persecution or physical harm regardless of the political bent of his or her country’s regime.  Therefore being a refugee is not a matter of personal choice but a governmental decision.  Data: In 2001 US admitted 69,000 refugees compared with the 1,065,000 admitted foreigners + 750,000 of temporary workers and trainees. In 2002, post 9/11, only 27,000 refugees were admitted, a 61% decline.  Refugees still live abroad and must be transported to US.  Asylees live already in the US and risk deportation. During the last decade about 25% of the asylum applications were approved. Forasiepi adapted from “Immigrant America”, Portes and Rumbaut, UCP 2006