UNIT 3:
MIGRATION
Introduction
• Migration: permanent movement to a new
location – cross boundary between states,
countries, cities, etc.
• Emigration: migration from a location
• Immigration: migration to a location
More Introduction
• Net In-Migration: # of immigrants greater than # of
emigrants
• Net Out-Migration: # of emigrants greater than # of
immigrants
• Worldwide # of migrants has increased historically as
travel has improved
• Immigrants from LDCs form an increasingly large
proportion of many MDCs population
International
Migration –
Movement across country borders (implying a degree of
permanence).
World Migration Routes
Since 1700
European
African (slaves)
Indian
Chinese
Japanese
Majority of population descended from immigrants
Internal Migration Movement within a single country’s borders (implying a
degree of permanence). Can be interregional or
intraregional
Interregional Migrations
U.S. population has been moving Westward and Southward
 Gold Rush (1849) and Donner Party just the most dramatic examples of
hardship.
– Wells, Pumps, Aqueducts, Mosquito Control and Air Conditioning have allowed
this move which otherwise would be impossible.
 Loss of Industrial Jobs in east compliments increase in Sunbelt service
sector (biotech, communications).
Intraregional Migrations in
U.S.
U.S. population has been moving
out of the city centers to the
suburbs: suburbanization and counterurbanization (Hmmm . . .)
Developed Countries:
suburbanization
automobiles and
roads
‘American Dream’
better services
counterurbanization
idyllic settings
cost of land for
retirement
slow pace, yet high
tech connections to
services and markets
U.S. intraregional migration during 1990s.
Intraregional Migrations in
LDCs
Populations in the less developed
world are rushing to cities in search
of work and income.
Urbanization
 migration from rural areas
 lack of jobs in countryside
 lack of services in cities
 Tokyo, Los Angeles, and
New York only MDC cities
on top 10 list
Lagos, Nigeria
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
City
Population
Tokyo, Japan
28 million
New York City
20.1 million
Mexico City, Mexico 18.1 million
Mumbai, India
18 million
Sao Paulo, Brazil
17.7 million
Los Angeles
15.8 million
Shanghai, China
14.2 million
Lagos, Nigeria
13.5 million
Kolkata, India
12.9 million
Buenos Aires,
12.5 million
Mumbai, India
Mexico City, Mexico
STOP
• What could cause you to emigrate to another
country?
• Where do you want to live as an adult? Why?
• What factors would weigh into your decision
to go to a specific place?
Key Issue #1: Why do people
migrate?
• PUSH: factors that cause people to leave…like what?
• PULL: factors that lure people to new location….like
what?
• Place Utility: measure of an individual’s satisfaction
with a given location. Desire to migrate is reflection
of the person’s appraisal of the current home site as
opposed to other possible, hoped for sites. Where
would you go? Why?
Factors that cause people to
migrate – can be both
international and internal
• Economic: THE #1 reason people go…jobs, higher
pay, cost of living
• Cultural: people move where they feel they fit in (ex:
Jews to Palestine after WWII)
• Environmental: climate or physically attractive
regions (ex: to Sunbelt, city to suburbs)
• Political: war or repressive regimes (ex: Pilgrims on
Mayflower)
Intervening Obstacles
• Obstacles that stop you from going to your
first choice destination
– Historically, obstacles were environmental…Rocky
Mountains, Great Plains, Atlantic Ocean
– Today’s obstacles – get permission to enter a
country (passport, VISA, green card, etc.), $$ to
travel, or in some repressive societies permission
to leave a country
Specific Types of Migration
• Forced Migration – Human migration flows in
which the movers have no choice but to
relocate.
• Voluntary Migration – Human migration flows
in which the movers respond to perceived
opportunity, not force.
Forced Migration – the Atlantic Slave Trade
Forced Migration
The Trail of Tears, 1838
Refugees….
– Refugees forced out or leave b/c
fear of persecution or death
-on account of. . .
race, religion, nationality, membership in a
particular social group ,or political opinion.
•
•
•
•
No home until another country allows entry
Often live in camps/tents
Largest international groups from Palestine and Afghanistan
Largest internal groups from Sudan and Angola (decades long civil
wars)
• Difficult to discern between refugees and poor immigrants coming
for econ reasons (ex: Cubans got special status and free pass;
Haitians didn’t)
• http://www.unhcr.org/pages/4ac9fdae6.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSR8IVqyt_A&safety_mode=true&
persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active
Refugees
• World Refugee Survey estimates more than 13 million
worldwide
• Largest number in Middle East and North Africa (Syria, Iraq,
Palestine, Somalia, Darfur)
• Europe – fall of Yugoslavia
• Southeast Asia – Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar
• South/Central Asia - Afghanistan
• Options? 1.) voluntary repatriation, 2.) long-term in refugee
camp, 3.) resettlement in other country
• United States takes in largest number of refugees worldwide
Why do people Migrate?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpwqK3B2ac8&safety_mode=true
&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active
STOP
• As a group, discuss the videos.
• Realistically (and thinking about our unit on
population) what can be done?!
Why do people Migrate?
Voluntary Migration –
Migrants weigh push and pull factors to decide first, to
emigrate from the home country and second, where to go.
Distance
Decay
weighs into the
decision to
migrate, leading
many migrants
to move less far
than they
originally
contemplate.
Why do people Migrate?
•
Kinds of Voluntary
Step Migration – Migration
When a migrant follows a path of a series of stages, or steps toward a final
destination.
* intervening opportunity –at one of the steps along
the path, pull factors encourage the migrant to settle there.
• Circular migration/transhumance – A type of temporary migration, mostly associated with agricultural work –
migrant workers follow the harvest of the crops or herding of animals.
– Very common in the US Southwest (Hispanic farm workers) and in
Western Europe (Eastern European farm workers).
• Chain Migration –
When a migrant communicates to family and friends at home, encouraging
further migration along the same path, along kinship links.
Why do people Migrate?
STOP
• Think about the Demographic Transition
Model. As a group discuss for each stage:
– Where are people migrating? Why?
– Examples from history/today
– POINTS FOR THE BEST EXAMPLES!
Why do people Migrate?
Wilbur Zelinsky’s Migration
Transition
• Says migrants come mostly from stage 2 of
demographic transition model (LDC/periphery
or S-P)
• Move to MDCs for new job, education, or tech
opportunities
• Most internal migration in Stage 3 and 4
countries is from city to suburbs
• Most internal migration in Stage 2 countries is
rural to urban
Why do people Migrate?
Ravenstein’s Characteristics of
Migrants
• Most people migrate for economic reasons
• Most move short distance (stay within own country)
• Most plan to return home (Cuban grandmother w/
packed suitcase)
• Long distance migrants to other countries head to
major cities of economic activity
• Will produce a counterflow
• Historically most long distance migrants are male and
single from age 25-39, yet women are more likely to
move internally
Why do people Migrate?
Key Issue #2: Where Do
Migrants Go?
• From LDCs to MDCs = from periphery to core
– What are the economic, political and social
impacts of this movement?
– Global Patterns…
• Asia, LA, Africa = net out-migration
• NA, Europe, Oceania = net in-migration
• 3 largest flows are:
– From Asia/Middle East to Europe
– From Asia to North America
– From Latin America to North America
• U.S. = country w/ most – 40 million foreign
born residents
Europe and Migration
• 1800s – rapid population growth fueled
emigration. What else made Europe a
source of international migrants? Where
did they go? Why? Stage in the DTM?
• Today: Europe is a destination for
migrants, especially from Middle
East/North Africa. How correspond to the
DTM?
Where do Migrants Go?
What is an American?
• The Easy Answer:
A citizen of the United
States
• The Hard Question:
What characteristics,
values, beliefs, rights
and/or obligations are
essential to the identity of
citizens of the United
States?
Where do Migrants Go?
27
A Nation of Immigrants
• Jus Soli (right of the territory) – birthright
citizenship – born on US soil
– Unique
– Should it be changed?
• Jus Sanguinis (right of blood) – i.e. your
parents are citizens so are you
Where do Migrants Go?
28
U. S. Immigration Patterns
• 3 historic eras…..
• Phase One: Initial Settlement – 1500s-late 1800s
– From NW Europe and Africa
– Scotland, Ireland, Germany, GB
– 1776-1875 Open Frontier = Open Border – anyone could
come – no quotas or restrictions
– From Europe, Germany has provided largest # of
immigrants to U.S.
– (Mexico recently passed Germany as greatest supplier
in history of immigrants to America)
Where do Migrants Go?
3 historic eras cont’d
• Phase Two: Turn of 20th C – 1920ish
– From SE Europe and Asia
– Italy, Poland, Russia, Romania, Greece, China,
Japan
– Came through Ellis Island and Angel Island
– Peaks:
• 1900-1914: 1 million annually. 2/3 from SE Europe
– what pushed them here? What were the changes
in the US economic structure that encouraged
immigration?
Where do Migrants Go?
3 historic eras cont’d
• Phase Three: 1960-Today
– From Latin America and Asia
– Changes in US economic structure:
• Service and technology oriented
• Brain-Drain from SP/LDC’s. Examples?
– Asia highest from late 1970s-late 1980s (China,
Philippines, Vietnam, India) – what pushed them here?
– Last 20 yrs Latin America = greatest supplier, and
Mexico greatest supplier from Latin America – what
has pushed them here?
• 1986 Immigration and Reform Act – US issued Visas to
several hundred thousand people who had entered the US in
previous years without documentation.
• What is going on today? The Dream Act?
Where do Migrants Go?
Destination of Immigrants in US
• CA, NY, FL, TX: ½ of all immigrants go to these 4
states
– Latin America more likely in CA and TX, Cubans more
likely in FL, …i.e. distance
– Immigration = fireball issue in these states because
big drain on state budgets (AZ minutemen)
• Chain Migration: people go to a specific location
b/c relatives or people from same area are
there…creates enclaves like Little Italy,
Chinatown, etc.
Where do Migrants Go?
Roy Beck
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPjzfGChG
lE&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=
1&safe=active
• http://content.time.com/time/video/player/0,
32068,1688176871001_2117188,00.html
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBjeSI576
sE
Where do Migrants Go?
Quick Write
• How do you think the US should proceed
concerning immigration?
• US Immigration Policy handout
Key Issue #3: Obstacles
Migrants Face
• Historically, biggest obstacle was long, expensive
journey
• Today, biggest obstacles
– Getting permission to enter
– $$ to travel
– Hostile attitudes once you are there
• Often met with suspicion, fear, hostility
• More different you are perceived to be, more hostility you
face
• Big anti-immigration protests in US, W Europe, Kuwait
• How long does it take to fully assimilate???
Immigration Policies of Host Countries:
Quotas (US) V. Guest worker passes
(Europe and Middle East)
• Quotas:
– Historically used quotas to favor W/N Europeans
• 1881 Chinese Exclusion Act
• Quota Act of 1921 and National Origins Act of 1924 (until 1960s)
– Today has global quota of 620,000 w/ no more than 7%
from one country
– # of applicants far exceeds quotas so Congress sets
preferences for
• Unify families (typical wait for spouse is 5 yrs) – 75%
• Skilled workers/professionals (LDCs accuse U.S. of brain drain,
taking best and brightest)
• Quotas do not apply to refugees – special status
What Obstacles do Immigrants Face?
Quota Preferences
• Family
• Employment
• Diversity
What Obstacles do Immigrants Face?
39
Quotas V. Guest worker passes
• Temporary Guest Worker Passes:
– Used in W. Europe and Kuwait
– Take low status, low pay, low skill jobs (low pay by
MDC standards, but good $$ for workers from LDC)
– Decreases LDC unemployment rate
– Guest workers send $$ back to home country – good
for economy
– Most Euro guest workers from N. Africa, ME, E. Eur,
Asia
– Problem – do not become citizens – U.S. unique to
have birth citizenship status
What Obstacles do Immigrants Face?
Key Issue #4: Internal Migration
• 3 internal patterns in US
– 1.) Late 19th/early 20th Century = rural to urban
• Motivation = jobs
• Ex: Great Migration of African Americans from rural
areas of South to Northern cities
Internal Migration
• 2.) 1950-1970 = urban to
suburban
– Motivation – lifestyle…yard, garage,
better schools, bigger houses, etc.
– Best of both worlds, close to
amenities and jobs of city but enjoy
lifestyle of suburbs
– Suburbs more homogenous (often
divided racially, by socioeconomic
status, etc.) – still see this today?
Internal Migration cont’d
• 3.) 1975-today = from NE to South and Southwest
– White, middle class Americans leaving older NE Rust Belt
(OH, Michigan, Penn) for Sun Belt
– New South – FL, GA, NC, TN – has grown faster than other
regions recently. Offers more job opportunities, nice
climate, affordable lifestyle. Atlanta, Charlotte, RTP,
Tampa, Nashville have all exploded in last 25 yrs
– South West – LA, San Diego, Houston, Phoenix
Results…..?
• CA, TX, NY, FL – 4 most populous states. All are top
destinations for immigrants and for internal
migration. These 4 have become political
powerhouses. Three of four in Sun Belt.
• Centroid: geographic center point of US is much
further W and S than it was at beginning of 20th C
– Centroid currently in Missouri
The Gravity Model of Migration
• Geographers use a modified version of
Newton’s Law of Gravitation to predict the
movement of people (and info and goods)
between cities and countries
• Predicts:
– Larger places attract more migrants than smaller
places (think planets)
– Closer places attract more migrants than more
distant places
The Gravity Model of Migration
• Uses:
– Population size of 2 places
– Distance between 2 places
• Looks like:
– Pop 1 x Pop 2/ distance 2
Ex: NY and LA:
NY Pop (20,124,377) x LA Pop (15,781,273) = 317,588,287,391,921
Distance is 2462
squared =
6,061,444
= 52,394,823 or 52.9
The Gravity Model of Migration
• Another Example: El Paso and Tucson
– El Paso pop = 703,127
– Tucson pop = 790,755
– Distance = 263
– =?
– How about El Paso and LA?!
– What does this tell us?
– Limitations to this Model?
• Time article on Texas