2013 - 41.3 million migrants living in the US, 13% of the population
78 nationalities with over 50,000 migrants
9 nationalities with over 1 million migrants
Mexico = 28%
India & China = 5%
The rapid growth of immigration in the 21st Century
Recently, immigration rates have slowly decreased
Pull factors
Possibility of becoming a permanent resident by obtaining a Green Card
Low and high skilled employment opportunities
High wages
Chance to send remittances
Importance of family reunification
Refugee admission
2.98 million American living abroad with that number growing
Mainly in Canada, Mexico, UK Puerto Rico, Germany, Australia and Israel
This can be due to the retirement of American-born children from migrant families returning to where their family is from. Or due to highly skilled IT jobs
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Migration policies
Limit of 675,000 permanent immigrants per year
480,000 - family reunification
140,000 - skills-based migrants, normally sponsored by an employer for a specific job offer
70,000 - protecting refugees
50,000 - promoting diversity, drawn randomly from countries with a low immigration rate to the US
Some migrant each year can migrate to the USA due to Humanitarian relief such as during the earthquake in Haiti in 2010
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Interdependence with Mexico
2013
11.5 million Mexicans lived in the USA and 1 million Americans in Mexico
Each country has its largest diaspora in the other country
Growing culture and social connectivity
Many low-skilled, sometimes illegal, contribute to the US economy by working in agriculture, construction and low-paid services
Wages are much higher in the US than in Mexico gibing Mexicans an opportunity to send remittances which amounted to $22 billion in 2013 - 2% of Mexico's GDP
Since NAFTA, bilateral trade has significantly increased. Mexican industry has expanded with FDI from Americ boosting aerospace and IT sectors
Political power still isn't balanced but there is increasing co-ordination
Issues include border security, drug trade, human trafficking and environmental issues
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Opportunities of migration for the USA
Immigrants take low-paid jobs which native-born Americans don't want to do
Employment of Mexican immigrants - 31%=services. 25%=natural resources, construction and manufacturing
US immigration policies attract highly-skilled workers and professionals
Most immigrants are in the young working-age groups from 20-35
This has economic benefits as they will pay lots of tax throughout their time in America
Immigrants are consumers themselves which helps with creating jobs and benefits business start-ups generating wealth
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Challenges of migration for the USA
There are an estimated 11.5 million illegal immigrants in the US of which 6 million are Mexican which is causing the US to have to spend lots of money in protecting the border and their security
Uneven progress of the integration of immigrant groups into the US
Integration is hard due to language, socio-economic status, political participation, residential location and social interactions
Illegal immigrants have caused social cohesion hard and have caused social tensions
There has been an increase in the pressure on services in areas where there are large immigrant populations
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