A Primer on Immigration

Migration is as universal as it is ancient. Today it is simple enough for some — a cheap flight from New York to visit relatives in Florida, a relocation to a new city to pursue a job opportunity, or a chance to study abroad for a year or two.

But for others, migration is a matter of life and death. At home in countries like Burma, Guatemala, or Zimbabwe, starvation or persecution looms. Abroad awaits indefinite detention or death at the hands of unwelcoming locals.

Recent Immigration Waves

The lifting of restrictive immigration laws by the U.S. government in 1965 brought millions of migrants from Asia, Latin America, and Africa, setting in motion major demographic shifts that will lead to a "majority minority" U.S. by 2050, if not sooner. As with previous waves of immigration to the U.S., the numbers have been driven by lingering economic imbalances, persecution and strife at home, and the U.S. political climate as reflected in immigration law.

Nativism and Backlash

As the cost of travel drops and culture is disseminated through global channels, migration is becoming a worldwide, integrating phenomenon. Alarmingly, there has been a corresponding wave of nativism and immigration restrictionism—an international backlash against the global movement of people. From the city councils of exurban America to the Italian parliament to the Chinese internet, nativists have been translating mistrust of outsiders into restrictive immigration laws. There has been a tragically direct causal line from these public expressions of animus to the murders of migrants— whether it's in rural Pennsylvania, in Roma shanty towns, or in the streets of South Africa.

Causes

Given the choice, most international migrants would probably stay at home, near loved ones and familiar landscapes. But most don't have that choice. Poverty, conflict, and persecution compel people around the world to leave home in search of a better life. Frequently, the relationship between sending and receiving nation is multifaceted. In the 1980s, U.S. interventions in Central America triggered or exacerbated bloody civil wars leading to waves of political refugees coming to urban America. Similarly, the failure of the Washington consensus in the favelas and campos of Latin America led to a steady influx of economic refugees in the 1990s and 2000s.

Yet around the world, newcomers are seen as vectors for disease and crime, threats to national security, and as disrespectful and unclean. They're also scapegoats both at home and abroad for economic problems and social discord—witness Argentina's mistreatment of Bolivian migrants in the face of economic mismanagement by Argentine leaders or some in the U.S. who correlate Mexican border crossings with terrorism.

As it has always been, those who don't need to migrate have little trouble doing it, while those who are forced to migrate face sometimes insuperable obstacles. Long wait times for permission to enter don't begin to scratch the surface.

Immigration as a Human Right

Migration is, at root, a human rights issue. From the freedom from arbitrary arrest, detention or exile found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to the prohibitions against arbitrary or unlawful interference with family life – the right of children to live with their parents - in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, migrant rights are human rights.