4.3.a USA Migration

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  • Created by: lee8444
  • Created on: 18-02-20 15:06

Patterns of emigration and immigration

  • 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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