Immigration Policies of Host Countries

• Countries use 2 main policies to control the arrival of foreigners seeking work

• The US uses a quota system• In Europe and the Middle East, they permit

guest workers

US Quota Laws

• Quotas-Quotas- maximum limit on the number of people who could immigrate to the S from each country in a 1 year period– First established in 1924– Updated in 1965, and replaced with hemisphere

quotas instead of country quotas– 1978, changed to a global quota of 290,000, with

a max of 20,000 per country– Today, 620,000, w/ max of 7% from one country

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• Get more applications for immigration per year than the quota allows

• Congress has set preferences– 480,000 family sponsored immigrants– 140,000 employment-related immigrants

• Currently about a 5 year wait for a spouse to gain entry

• Quotas do not account for refugees

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• Brain drain-Brain drain- large scale emigration of talented people– In 2005, 84% of Haitians w/ a college degree lived

abroad• 47% Ghana• 45% Mozambique

Temporary Migration for Work

• Guest workers-Guest workers- citizens of poor countries who obtain jobs in W. Europe and the Middle East– Take low-status and low-skilled jobs that local

residents won’t take– Low paid by European standards, but far more

than could make at home– Helps the native country too• Lowers unemployment and large % of pay gets infused

in local economy as money gets sent home to families

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• Most guest workers in Europe come from N. Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Asia

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• Millions of Asians migrated in the 19th century as time-contract laborers, recruited for a fixed period to work in mines or on plantations– many stayed after their contract was up

Distinguishing Between Economic Migrants and Refugees

• The 2 groups are treated differently• Economic migratns must possess special skills

or have a close relative already living their to be accepted

• Refugees receive special priority in admission to other countries because of persecution from undemocratic governments – Read about Cuba, Haiti, and Vietnam p. 99-101

What about refugees?

• UN definition–A person who has well-founded fear of

being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political group.

• UN reports 24 million refugees worldwide

What about refugees?UN definitions

• International refugees:

– Those who have crossed one or more international borders and are encamped in a country other than their own

• Intranational refugees:

– Those who have abandoned their homes but not their homeland

It is difficult to identify refugees.

• No mention of natural/enviromental disaster• UN must distinguish between refugees and voluntary

migrants before granting asylum. • Three general characteristics, individual or aggregate

(collectively):– Most refugees move without any more tangible property

than they can carry or transport with them.– Most refugees make their first “step” on foot, by bicycle,

wagon, or open boat.– Refugees move without the official documents that

accompany channeled migrations.

Regions of Dislocation

• Sub-Saharan Africa– Several of the world’s

largest refugee crises plagued Africa during the 1990s and early 21st century -8 million “official” refugees

– Civil wars in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Angola, and Sudan

– Hostilities between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes in Rwanda

Other regions of dislocation…

• North Africa and Southwest Asia– Israel and the displaced Arab

populations that surround it

– Exhibits qualities that are likely to generate additional refugee flow in the future

– The Kurdish population following the Gulf War (1991)

– Taliban rule in Afghanistan

– Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion during the 1980s

Regions of dislocation continued…

• South Asia

– Pakistan accommodated forced emigrants from Afghanistan

– Major refugee problem stems from a civil war in Sri Lanka

Regions of dislocation continued…

• Southeast Asia– “Boat people” who fled

communist rule in Vietnam

– In the early 1990s, Cambodia generated the region’s largest refugee flow

– Today--largest number of refugees come from Myanmar (Burma)

Regions of dislocation continued…

• Europe– After the collapse of

Yugoslavia, over 1 million were displaced

South AmericaSouth America Colombian illegal drug Colombian illegal drug

violence, especially in violence, especially in rural areasrural areas

Cultural Problems Faced While Living in Other Countries

• Citiznes of host countries are not always accepting of newcomers’ cultural differences– Immigrants are often used as scapegoats by local

politicians to explain local economic problems

US Attitudes Toward Immigrants

• The Germans and Irish had only mild prejudice against them because they helped expand the frontier

• Russians, Italians, Poles, faced much more hostility after the frontier was closed– They were deemed less intelligent, less

trustworthy, and more inclined to violence• Recent immigrants face many of the same

prejudices today