Race and Ethnicity in America: A Bilkent Blog on What Things Really Mean

Monday, December 15, 2014

UNDERSTANDING AMERICA'S MIGRATION CRISIS: THE HUMAN SIDE OF THE IMMIGRATION

Immigration between Mexico and the United States is part of a historical process of increasing North American integration. The United States continues to resist the integration of the labor markets of the two countries rather than include labor in this new regime. For example, the United States militarized its border and enacted restrictive new policies of immigrant disenfranchisement instead of easing restrictions on Mexican labor. In chapter two, Principles of Operation: Theories of International Migration the authors Douglas S. Massey, Jorge Durand, and Nolan J. Malone provide an overview of international migration theories. They examine the limits to neoclassical economic analyses of migration.

The reasons for immigration seem obvious. There is a huge income differential between Mexico and the United States. For example, even at the U.S minimum wage, an immigrant who works full-time for a year can earn more than three times the Mexican average income. Therefore, policymakers believed that Mexican immigrants decide to come to the United States by making cost-benefit calculations. The late 1980s and early 1990s were a time of restrictive sentiment. The most obvious way to reduce Mexican immigration was to raise the costs and reduce the benefits. Authorities hoped to prevent Mexican immigration but the authors suggest that their policies had little effect on undocumented immigration. They support that the current policies are based on a narrow conceptualization of immigration.

"The reality of contemporary immigration is considerably more complex than a simple calculus of costs and benefits."

Douglas Massey

According to the authors, there are four basic questions which should be analyzed to have complete understanding about the international migration.

What are the forces in sending societies that promote out-migration and how do they operate?
What are the forces in receiving societies that create a demand for immigrant workers and how do they function?
What are the motivations and goals of the people who respond to these forces by migrating internationally?
What are the social and economic structures that arise in the course of migration to connect sending and receiving societies?

Authors suggest that a simple cost-benefit decision deals only with the third question. In this chapter, they address all these four questions to give a comprehensive explanation for international migration.

Theories of International Migration

There are four main theories of international migration. The first one is Neoclassical Economics. Neoclassical economics argues that immigration from one country to another country will occur whenever an individual finds it in their best interest to migrate to another country. For example, immigration from Latin America to the United States is due to the difference in wage levels.

A second theory that also helps explain why migration might occur between two countries is the New Economics of Migration Theory. In this line of theoretical reasoning, unlike the neoclassical model, it does not assume that migration decisions are made by isolated actors but that they are taken within larger units of interrelated people, typically families but sometimes entire communities. In other words, this theory argues that migration is a temporary solution to overcome deficiencies in the markets of the immigrant's country.

Third theory is called World Systems Theory which argues that the rise in international migration is a result of globalization. Globalization is the process by which the world economies have become more integrated. For example, when the capitalism arrived in Latin America, several peasants have been unable to compete as peasant farmers as foreign companies have come in and taken over farming markets. This pushed them off their land ans forced many immigrants to seek employment in the United States.

Fourth theory is called Segmented Labor Market Theory which argues that migration occurs because of the high demand of developed countries for immigrant labor. There are push and pull factors. Migration usually happens as a result of a combination of these push and pull factors.

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The Demand for Immigrants

Michael Piore (1979) has argued that international migration boundaries from a comparably enduring requirement for unskilled labor that is formed into the economic structure of developed nations. Immigration policy shapes immigration patterns, which in turn have a tremendous impact on the demography, culture, economy and politics of a state. “National identity” is important. Moreover, there are four problems of migration. These are structural inflation, social status, labor vs. capital and lack of entry level labor.

Why People Continue to Migrate

Immigration’s reasons are diverse. There can also be forces that trigger international movement which are different from these reasons that maintain it. Although there are wage differentials, market failures and structural change might motivate people to move in the first place, new conditions and opportunities arise in the course of migration. A population of humans living in a given area faces certain pressures. Those pressures depend on the size of the population, the resources available and the community's ability to exploit those resources.

A Schematic Diagram

There are multiple levels of aggregation. It is possible for individuals to engage in cost-benefit calculations; for households to follow to minimize risk and conquer barriers to capital and credit; for both households and individuals to draw upon social capital to ease international movement. There is an international migration emerges in the economic, social and political shifts that accompany the expansion of markets. Moreover, households coping with the jarring transformations of economic development also use international migration as a means of overcoming frequent failures in markets for labor, capital, insurance and credit.

The immigration’s main reason is obviously education besides finding a new job. There are many illegal students in United States. Because of the better education, people have to leave their own country but as a result of this, undocumented immigrants’ rate is increased. “Fitting into the crowd” is seriously difficult.

America has an immigration problem and there are many immigrants in United States. Unfortunately just focusing on the economy, does not solve this problem. Actually according to Douglas Massey, there is something really wrong with immigration policies. Authorities thought that push and pull factors are the reason of immigration of Mexican people. So there is a reducing of benefit and increasing of cost. The result is: “undocumented immigrants”. The reverse effect came out because government just thought the neo-classical economics.

It is true that United States is a diverse country and immigration is necessary for finding a new job, for a better education. It is not easy to leave the home country but people do not have a choice about that and I think that both Mexican-Americans, African- Americans and other immigrants need to have a citizenship documentary and they should have rights to live in U.S.

For example, if I give an example from my own family, my mother’s racial background is based on Albania. My mother’s grandmother is Albanian and I know the struggle and the pain of immigration problem. It has also a psychological effect on people. Economic problems are surely important but government should not just focus on the neo-classical economics.

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Of course, under this text, there lays an important issue related to our discussions in a broader context. Recent history of U.S. immigration policies and tactics to restrict unauthorized immigration were actually political rather than prudent and led to an increase in the country's undocumented population. Laws and policies which were enacted to reduce the number of undocumented immigrants in the US actually had the opposite effect. The spent money was wasted and the number of undocumented residents continued to increase. Today, America still tries to deal with immigration in a reactionary way instead of solving the problems or issues.

“Shifting from a goal of immigration suppression to one of immigration management with an emphasis on integration and legalization of workers and residents is the only way to break with the failed policies of the past. “

Douglas Massey

Illegality is now the biggest discouragement to the successful integration of Latinos. This immigration policy does nothing to address the factors which increase undocumented immigration. If Americans can voice their discomfort with this approach, policymakers would begin cooperating more with the Mexican government to reduce the migration pressures.

Roy Germano who holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Texas at Austin has conducted extensive research in the Mexican countryside with support from the National Science Foundation. He made a documentary movie called The Other Side of Immigration which emerged from his research. Here is the trailer of the movie.

“The Other Side of Immigration does more than any other work to
give people otherwise disparaged as ‘threatening’ and ‘illegal’ a human face”

- Douglas S. Massey

This movie asks why so many Mexicans have left home to work in the United States and what’s happened to the families and communities they’ve left behind.

U.S policies against illegal immigration cause serious struggles than we imagined to these people because they are actually in danger. Roy Germano and his crew traveled to San Pedro Sula which is the most violent and second largest city in Honduras to find out why so many families and young people are risking it all to migrate illegally to the US.

click the link : https://news.vice.com/video/immigrant-america-murder-and-migration-in-honduras

People should feel more connected to a population which they may have misunderstood or do not know very much about. They should realize that most people (Mexican or American, citizen or immigrant) are more similar than they are different. They are motivated to survive and take care of their families as all human beings. Immigration laws are not matter if one’s family is hungry. Americans should put themselves in the shoes of immigrants and feel uncomfortable with an immigration policy whose primary aim is to restrict the entry. The immigration cannot be stopped with walls or border guards. I think that working to improve the Mexican economy should be America’s national interest because many social and economic problems associated with undocumented immigration shows that Mexico’s problems are indeed America’s problems as well. Ignoring Mexico’s problems and trying to hide them behind a border cannot help anyone.

***QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT***

Do you think the immigration to the United States should be considered as a right or a privilege?

If migration is seen as a means of survival, is survival a choice or a necessity?

Should the government use its resources to take care of “its own” rather than care for those from other countries (like Mexicans)?

Do you think that the U.S has a responsibility towards Mexican people considering that the U.S is bound to Mexico by geography, history, demography, and economics?

What do you think about Douglas Massey’s argument? Is he right about his solution to the immigration crisis? ( He supports that America should help Mexico to grow economically instead of wasting the money on border patrol and deportation mechanisms which, he believes, would bring prosperity and stability.)

ADDITIONAL VIDEOS AND WEBSITES

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_fzmVSZZdQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhKdA7xpjOc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB5waY-HZ1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFd5AkSH3NI

http://roygermano.com/videos/

WORKS CITED

Massey, Douglas S., and Jorge Durand. "The Principles of Operation: Theories of International Migration." Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Mexican Immigration in an Era of Economic Integration. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2002. Print

**BURCU KARATEKELI

**EZGI DOGAN

45 comments:

UnknownDecember 17, 2014 at 4:33 AM
Thank you Burcu and Ezgi for the enjoyable presentation. Videos were great!

International migration has been and still is a problem for United States. Americans do not like others invading their own country. But they miss one point. There is no true American; even the Puritans were immigrants. The article especially focuses on the immigration crisis between Mexico and United States. When I read the article and listened to the presentation, I remembered the documentary Wet Back that we watched in the class. It is precisely about this article and helped me visualize how people struggled to come and pass the border through the water or on foot.

The question about linking immigration and survival is a wise one. I do not think that survival is a choice but certainly a necessity, so does immigration for some people. As we saw in the videos that were shown in the presentation, the people who attempt to cross the border more than several times have no other choice. The choice replaces itself with a cruel necessity. If they stay in their homelands, their whole family could die because of diseases and economic problems. Even if they could take care of themselves and did not come close to the situation of wretchedness, their children could not receive adequate education or no education at all. America shines like a bright diamond for these families. It has all the necessities taken care of IF they can cross the border without being caught up. They know that they can earn more with working same in America. It is a survival instinct to take care of one's own family and this leads to entering USA for these people. In the video, mostly women tries to cross the borders just to enable her children to have a healthy life.

When I think about Turkey, I linked the situation between Mexico and USA to a contemporary status of Syrians in Turkey. Just like the ones who attempt to cross the border into USA, Syrians who want to enter Turkey, try to escape from the wretchedness of war conditions and try to save their family. All they want is to survive. Some of us may think that they disturb us and they become beggars who stands in the traffic lights. But they have to do that because no one gives jobs to them even if they have a job it is not enough to take care of the whole family.

Douglas Massey's solution about the immigration crisis between Mexico and USA is applicable. Rather than strengthening patrol control or having immigration laws to ban immigrants to cross the borders; the federal government should deal with the source of the "problem". If Americans think that immigrants spend their money and take their jobs, they should use this money for something more permanent and logical. It is more wiser to spend it on the economic development, health services and education for Mexico; so that there would be no reason to become immigrants. Immigrants are most certainly not happy to leave their homes and start a new life in a totally foreign land without any bounds or friends. This solution would be a WIN-WIN.

Here is a short video showing the dangerous and heart-breaking story about crossing a border with a message "Should we stop them or should we help them?" The answer is we should help them:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eMq-MTw2wA

Bige YILMAZ
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AMER 495: Race and Ethnicity in AmericaDecember 17, 2014 at 7:00 AM
Thanks for the presentation.

I want to begin with a question, if I may: Where do you draw the line?

Putting all the push and pull factors aside for a moment, immigration has a profound effect on the receiving country’s economy. In the case of Mexico, I fail to see why it would be the US’ responsibility to accept each and every single immigrant and provide them with a better life.

Even when I look at the example of huge American corporations’ pushing small farmers out of business in Mexico –just to go with an example given in class-, I just don’t see how it entitles any of those people to a better life in the US –or how they can cross the border illegally using that argument. Essentially, a failed business is a failed business, not a promise for a better future. If any of those farmers, however, can enter the US by legal means and can realize a better life for themselves and their families, good for them.

It is against the law and the moment you step on the other side of the border, you’re technically a criminal. (I bet the average thief or murderer, too, would have justifications for their actions, does not make them any better.) And of course, any US employer abusing them through extremely low wages is just as guilty.

To clarify, I have nothing against immigration as long as it is done through legal channels. It really is not the social or cultural aspects that I am criticizing here. And anything above applies only to illegal immigration.

I would love to live in the US, I really would. And I’ve been thinking about immigrating and how I can actually initiate the process for quite a long time. Hence, I’d like to think that I understand why it might seem as appealing as it does. But I just cannot justify when people immigrate illegally, refuse to learn the language of the land and just feel entitled to whatever it is that they need. If, on the other hand, the American public gets together and decides to help those people for any reason, it’s another matter entirely. That is a justifiable course of action that then can follow, but so is doing absolutely nothing about it.

And why is the US even blamed for “wasting” money on border protection? I really do not get this argument, what are they even supposed to do? Just open the borders? Mexico has a population of more than 100 million people and the border is nowhere near stable even with all the money spent to guard it. It wouldn't be sensible to just remove all sorts of border protection and expect that only the most wonderful of people move in.

Furthermore, the money spent on the border is really trivial when compared to the total GDP. The entire customs and border protection (not just the border between the US and Mexico, this is every single point of entry and all of the borders combined) makes up for less than the 0.04% of the total GDP of the US. Even if somehow the Mexico border takes up half of that amount, that would only be a mere 2%... of 1% of the total GDP.

And why would the US use the taxpayer’s money to improve Mexico? Especially when you consider how corrupt the government is over there, that will only delay the problem; not necessarily fix it once and for all. Besides, it’s not like the US is some magical land with absolutely no issues of its own. The US economy has been doing rather poorly for almost a decade now, it literally is not in a position to help others.

Just focusing on the economy does not fix the problem, sure, but you can’t simply ignore it either. People often forget about this, but economics has a much larger influence over one’s life than most are willing to realize.

I hope this answers a few of the questions posed in the blog post. (Great questions by the way.)

-Murat A.
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Deniz YılmazDecember 17, 2014 at 1:16 PM
Hi guys, first of all I want to say that I really enjoy focusing on the human side of the immigration. I think the reason why some American citizens voluntarily trace the Mexican people who cross the border illegally is because they turn a blind eye to the human side of the immigration. These people seem like they really believe in the sacredness of their duty.

Before, we focused on how the economies of the two countries (Mexico and the United States) are linked to each other. Indeed, the well being of one country affects the other country positively. All the time there exist both push and pull factors that cause people migrate from their homelands with the hope of better opportunities. While financial obstacles and/or political and social circumstances compose the push factors, the economic development level of the other country and the assumed possibility to realize people’s dreams constitute the pull factors for the immigrants. So, without bettering the unfavorable situations of the neighboring country, the solution to the immigration problem (both legal and illegal) cannot be considered as realistic because the pull factors will lead people search for better opportunities all the time. Mutual agreements and reconstruction plans that aim at the mutual development of the two countries would be beneficial in order to solve this problem I guess. On the other hand, the militarization of the border raises the cost and becomes a burden to the national budget of the USA. So it is a meaningless measure that promises nothing sort of a solution.

I agree that in every step of our lives, we make cost-benefit analysis even without noticing it. However raising the cost and reducing the benefits for the Mexican People is not a humanistic or a practical way to maintain either. The illegal immigration and laws of the economic system do not let such a measure survive. All the time, the business owner will follow policies that would make him available the minimum cost in the production process. Immigrants, more specifically Mexican people (especially if they are illegal) compose the cheapest labor supply for the manufacturer or for the business owner. So, both the difficulties of controlling mechanisms and the motivations of businessmen result in the continuity of labor flow from Mexico to the USA.

Globalization is another factor that prevents the enactment of a policy against legal and illegal immigration because it is a process that challenges the physical boundaries. As we have talked in the class, globalization is both the cause and the effect of the integration of the countries both economically and socially. So I agree with that globalization is one of the main sources of immigration, but not the only one obviously. As a matter of fact, I experienced such a challenge in the political, social and economic circumstances of the Cuba when I was there.
Despite tough measures and preventing policies which aim to keep capitalism away the country, gradually it became impossible to constrain its citizens from outside and limit their perceptions about the outside world.

However, the best prove that the USA uses immigration according to its private interests is the unfair immigration policies that it pursues towards different countries. While it makes easier to become American citizens for the ones that immigrate illegally from Cuba, for Mexican People even when they become citizens, discrimination is always prevalent.

Thanks for the presentation :)

Deniz
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Deniz YılmazDecember 17, 2014 at 1:16 PM
About the questions that you pose, according to me immigration is neither a privilege nor a right, but just an obligation. Nobody wants to leave his/her own country and start to live in an unfamiliar environment and have to struggle with numerous obstacles in order to be accepted by the society. Survival which is among the basic needs of individuals is closely related to necessity according to me. Also, taking care of oneself usually is about taking into consideration of others. The same assumption can be made for countries in a broader sense. So, the USA in order to perpetuate its universal position as a strong country has to take into consideration of the well being not only of Mexico but also of other demanding countries.

Thanks again

Deniz
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UnknownDecember 17, 2014 at 1:53 PM
Ladies, thank you for this inclusive and detailed presentation.

Illegal immigration has been a major problem for United States for decades. Millions of illegal immigrant enter illegally and try to build a life on a land that they don’t know with people whose culture they are not accustomed to. The human side of immigration is very important because it shows the problem is not the illegal act but the consequences it brought. Before trying to stop illegal immigration, the conditions within Mexico or wherever these people are coming from should be examined in detailed. As we have already seen in one of the documentaries of Roy Germano, the women who was deported once, was still thinking of trying to migrate again. This is a common thing. People are so sick of the conditions they live in, they want to get out and make their living conditions better. Still, as also the article points out, Mexican people earn three times more money in low paid jobs in the US than they do in Mexico in regular jobs. People in the first place determine to do one thing according to its financial benefits. Education, health services and a better lifestyle comes next. Mexican people want to emigrate because they are not paid enough in their country and they want to earn more money to gain Access to certain things. Therefore I believe the cost- benefit relation is the most important theory that explains the reasons of immigrations.

I also watched several parts of Germano’s documentaries and affected mostly by the one telling the story of Ray Jesus. Ray was father of five, living in California and married for about 20 years to an American woman. However, he was deported back to Guatemala as he was an illegal immigrant. It is stated by his immigration lawyer that he was waiting for the Court to make his decision and after sometime he lost hold of things and got lost between things. Germano describes him as a man who speaks, dresses, lives and acts like an American. He is Mexican but migrated to America at the age of 15 and was living in America nearly more than 20 years. He had a job and paid taxes regularly. But none of this mattered, he was still deported back to a land that he abandoned many years ago and was not familiar with. He talks to his kids by Skype and cannot send money to his wife. This clearly exemplifies how complex and contradictory this immigration issue is. People living in America for so many years are deported for being illegal but what does happen to their families left behind? Will these deported men and women be ever able to come back to the US legally? No one knows. No one answers.

It is also not financially beneficial to start a war to illegal immigrants. Roy Germano also states in that documentary that it takes approx. $12,500 to arrest, to detain and to deport someone. When calculated it is estimated that the US government spends 25 billion dollars for deportation of illegal immigrants. They set up big deportation centers, do paper work for this issue as well as spending so much time. So many good things can be done with this money. It can be used to help these countries to build resources and develop. It can be spent to improve living conditions in these countries so that people will not seek a way to get away. Therefore I believe, if we see the human side of immigration and build empathy with these illegal immigrants, we will realize we are not different at all and will do the same thing if we were in their shoes.

Here is the link to the documentary I’m talking about (Roy Germano): https://news.vice.com/video/immigrant-america-the-high-cost-of-deporting-parents
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UnknownDecember 17, 2014 at 2:25 PM
Thank you ladies for really well prepared presentation and well chosen videos.

As we see in the text there are many reasons for immigration besides job opportunities and I think to understand its reasons comprehensively we should hear real stories from immigrants. So, I want to thank you for putting humanside of it in context.
You asked really good questions and In would like to answer the first question.

I think people immigrate because they have to. I think so, because when we think how difficult to immigrate and what difficulties that people face, no one normally want to get into something like that. So, I assume that really desperate people who can barely live in their own country had no other choice. because to leave your home, your relatives, friends, all habits and even your language is must be one of the most hard thing to do.
also as I mentioned above, I agree with writers about that there ara many reasons to immigrate beside job. for example, country's regime can change and in parallel with political so social situation can change. Therefore, people would want to leave their country to get their old lifestyle. or many people want escape from their own country because there would be human rights violations or danger of death. another widespread reason before job opportunities is I think education. Especially, countries like America which has many qualified universities, Attract more people since getting a good education is key of more comfortable life.
so, I really enjoyed both the presentation and also the subject. It gives us more to think about.
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AMER 495: Race and Ethnicity in AmericaDecember 18, 2014 at 10:11 AM
Thank you Burcu and Ezgi for your informative and fluent presentation.

The short video clips that we have watched in the class were sad but also the actual thing that the immigrants and undocumented population were facing. The immigrants go to the U.S to have access to services, better job opportunities, more entertainment facilities, better transport links, improved living conditions, hope for a better way of life and family links as Burcu and Ezgi talked about the pull factors of U.S. Unfortunately, the fact is that they cannot find some of these conditions and they mostly stay at U.S without legal documents or they turn to their homelands without benefiting any of these circumstances. People immigrate to U.S to get better chances but their life get in danger and they got involved in trouble and danger.

I would like to answer one of those questions that you wrote the blog. I will choose the first question. I do not think that immigration to the U.S is a privilege, it is a right because the people who immigrate to the U.S wants to earn money and get better jobs, but the government won't let the immigrants to legally work in U.S. Yes maybe it can look as privilege to live or to have a citizenship from the U.S government but it should be a right to gain all of these pull factors.

“I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong.” George Washington

Gözde İPEK
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AMER 495: Race and Ethnicity in AmericaDecember 18, 2014 at 11:11 AM
Thank you ladies for your well-prepared presentation!
Immigration is one of the most important problems America has even today. As we always talk, America is a melting pot; this means that there are lots of people who belong to different nations, languages, religions and traditions. The melting pot America should involve everybody without looking their ethnic and cultural background. However, America could not/ cannot achieve to do it. The country always excludes the immigrants and put limitations the number of immigrants.

People immigrate for lots of reasons. They are in the hope of wealth, employment, freedom… etc. This article and the presentation also remind me the documentary we watched in the class: Wet Back. We saw in the documentary how people try to cross the border and make a life for themselves. They even take the risk of death. Some of they hope to attain the freedom and wealth; while some just hope to survive. Economy in America is much better than their home country. They can earn more than two/three times in America and send some of them to their original home.

No matter what immigration law America made, the country is never able to stop the immigration. Officially or unofficially immigrants achieve to cross the border and get in the United States of America. Of course, it has advantages for the nation because immigrants cause nothing to government. They cannot have their rights because they are there illegally, they cannot demand insurance or anything else. However, they generate work force for America. Because they are in a very bad condition, they willingly work for a little wage. The issue is very controversial, I think. There is always more to talk and learn about!

Pınar ILGAR
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AMER 495: Race and Ethnicity in AmericaDecember 18, 2014 at 11:18 AM
First of all I want to apologize from Burcu and Ezgi for my absence in your presentation because of a health problem I had on Tuesday morning before our class time. I am sure it was a very informative and great presentation as far as I read the informations on your blog. The videos are also well chosen. Thank you both for all of these.

In the issue of Mexican immigrants migration to USA,i think they are the ones who experience the hardest times both to survive and to effort for acquiring the permission of USA for having a right to live there. Actually i gave an answer to the first discussion question. Immigration to the USA is a right rather than privilege i think because USA is like a bottle full of opportunities and facilities of education,work for them in comparison with their country, Mexico. In short USA roles as a key to survive for all of the immigrants. When America both doesn't contribute the development of Mexico thinking its bound to Mexico by geography, history, demography and economics and when also it doesn't open its doors to the Mexican immigrants at the same time it becomes the biggest and one of the most important factors push the Mexican immigrants to their country in nonlegal way. Survival is the necessity for them as it is a necessity for all the people in the world rather than being a choice and they have to earn more money for maintaining their lives for their survival firstly for food than for an education for better jobs in which they can make enough money for maintaining their lives, for surviving in short. USA can effort and use certain amounts of its resources for the ones (immigrants) from other countries, I think there is enough resources they can spare for the survival of them(Non-Americans) in the lands of USA. In my opinion, Douglas Massey is right in his solution to the immigrant crisis in which he supports the argument that USA should contribute Mexico's development rather than wasting the money and effort on border patrol and deportation mechanisms because helping or contributing the development of Mexico means to help the Mexican people and their survival, providing them a life profitable and livable life on their own lands, in their own country and with their own culture, language ,traditions, geography and history which they substantially belong to without isolating and pulling them away from the values and other things they belong to which means to hurt them very deeply or even maybe kill them mentally by leaving them with the lack of all these values and making a big gap in them morally.

Özge BAŞAK
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AMER 495: Race and Ethnicity in AmericaDecember 18, 2014 at 12:10 PM
Thank you Ezgi and Burcu for your presentation. I guess, we, as humans, must accept the other sad parts of immigration. 'It's not all about forced to leave the homeland but it's also about to 'change' all the ways.'

When it comes to immigration, everyone feels the enough pity for it but no one thinks it deep. Like, what's gonna happen to them? Where they gonna work etc..
I think that, what Ezgi and Burcu talked and presented about was a very good brief explain of all of these. In addition to that, videos were touchy.
Whenever I hear or see sth about immigrants, it constantly makes me remember the migrants from Syria whom try to survive in places like Aşti (bus terminal in Ankara). They beg for money and food to survive the hour. Not even the day.

The question that I'm going to answer is; '
If migration is seen as a means of survival, is survival a choice or a necessity?

It's the survival of the fittest and it's an ABSOLUTE necessity. Because, for them, America seems like the land of hope and glory. But when they transmigrate and began to 'live' there, their dreams turns into reality from expectation. They try to survive, definetly it's NOT living, if they can make it for the day, then it's like they're given the chance to try to make the following day.

I think that it's a necessity because of this.

Kardelen İpek
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Peta PanDecember 18, 2014 at 1:30 PM
Hi guys

Thank you for the presentation..

I actually planned everything that I was going to write then I saw your question, "If migration is seen as a means of survival, is survival a choice or a necessity?" and I was like "Woow!! I'm going to try to answer that for sure." Anyway here I am..

There are many reasons to immigrate and these reasons should be serious enough to make a person to leave his/her home and go to a country even the language of which s/he doesn't know. As you also mentioned, some of them are unemployment, lack of safety, poverty and lack of services..Many of these immigrants immigrate because they are in a really bad shape in their countries and they want to give a good education and life to their children just like any other parents. I don't understand how Americans cannot see it! Or maybe they just don't care! It is very ironic: when they came from Europe and settled into America it is good because they are there for civilizing "uncivilized" native Americans and introduced Christianity, as well as they are really in need of a place to grow (simple as that). However, when an immigrant comes due to survival, s/he becomes the bad guy! This is pure hypocrisy!

As an answer to your question, I believe survival is a necessity, especially if you need to care not only for yourself but also for other family members. That's why we have political asylum or refugees, guys! I know it is a shock for the great, free and exemplary American people that some people are living in a very poor conditions and dying because of a civil unrest, starving and simple poverty but they need to wake up and meet the real world. (I think it sounds a little bit harsh. I mean no disrespect. I do not say it to the whole white Americans just to those who really believe that it is okay to come to a country and say that "This country is mine now and I will not let any of you (even the original settlers) to take it back from me".) So the real problem as I mention before in this blog, they are so afraid that somebody will take the country from them just as they took it from Native Americans.

Since survival is a necessity, we need to look immigration from the human side of it. Then we will feel sympathetic with them. What would you do if your family were suffering in your own country? I, personally, would leave there and go to the nearest country that I found first. In the USA's case, illegal immigrant is not that bad for the economy either. They work in the worst jobs white Americans do not want to work. So I don't see the problem. I mean there should be a reasonable reason for them to hate any people who are not white and protestant, right?

-Ezgi ULUSOY
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UnknownDecember 18, 2014 at 1:41 PM
We talked about this before when Jennifer had us watch the border crossing documentary. These people are just too profitable for US to not be allowed entry. In Turkey we have a saying: "İstemem, yan cebime koy" which roughly translates into "I don't want it, put it in my back pocket" which can be dumbed down further to mean America acts like she doesn't want it yet allows entry on a mass scale because of the profit she reaps.

Now remember the documentary. These people work under extreme conditions, work for exorbitant rates, and don't pay taxes. And they do all this because they are not legal, which means they don't get any tax returns from the government as they both don't pay taxes in the first place and they are afraid of getting deported. Which in turn leads to using cheap labor to build mass scale infrastructure. Which I call modern slavery. Because I am sure that Latinos/Latinas (does this work or 'os' is general as in nosotros/vosotros?) have build pyramids over 100 times for the US so far. And they probably did it for less than the Jewish slaves did, because bible says they had enough gold on them to make a life sized Bull Idol, and probably even more. Let's face it, no Latino community of same size can come up with that kinda cash.

Unlike what we saw with Prof. Mansbridge's presentation today about Canada, America doesn't give two sh*ts about minorty rights, or cultures, health, ideals, etc etc. It is the land of capitalism and money talks. And money has been whispering "use cheap mexican labor dude, is cool!" into many ears for a looong time now. So I don't believe America has an immigration PROBLEM right now, people who have the problem are immigrants. America I believe has a lucrative Immigration BUSINESS, and it will keep its current state of affairs until we see a catastrophic market crash. Which I hope is soon enough. Over and out
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AMER 495: Race and Ethnicity in AmericaDecember 18, 2014 at 2:15 PM
I want to thank Burcu and Ezgi for your presentation.

When we think of USA, immigration comes one of the major subjects of the US domestic and foreign affairs. Therefore, last year I chose my senior project on the controversial immigration law known as “SB 1070”, also known as “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhood Act” . Therefore, your presentation covered lots of information that I studied and was quite familiar with the concepts that you explained.

This law was enacted in Arizona in 2010 and created a huge chaos in the US. Then, the US government filed suit against Arizona and asked to preempt the legislation and the Supreme Court case called “Arizona ET AL. v. United States: 567 U.S___(2012)” occurred to investigate the four provisions of the law.
The law was enacted because Arizona believed that federal government was not sufficient to protect the rights and benefits of its citizens. Arizona being a border state has been struggling to deal with the policies towards immigrants. According to the state, the illegal immigrants were the burden on Arizona and this state was neglected by the federal government unlike other borders states like Texas and California. Arizona wanted to set up its own measures. However, there was limit to that. The US expresses that immigration is not a matter of states but is a matter of federal government. Imagine what would happen if 50 states form their own immigration laws there would be a huge distress in the country.

The law was not only problematic for entering of federal field but also for encouraging racial of profiling. The law enabled state officers to investigate people that they suspect that they are illegal immigrants. For example, they may ask you to verify your immigration status by asking your documents also known as” Show Me Your Papers”. If you ask me how do they that well by looking at your “appearance” and “accent” they may think that you maybe not a legal citizens. If you fail to show them, you are charged not only with deportation but they may put you in prison. The law also allows warrantless arrests. (There are so much more details of course, but I have to skip!!). The controversial part is if officers do not follow these regulations, US citizens have right to sue them for not doing so. Can you imagine the pressure that is on those officers? After finding out this, I started to think that before we blame the officers for carrying out these provisions, we should look at the legislative aspects of the issue. It creates such a contradictory behavior that if you do not carry out your duty you are to be punished, but if you do it is very likely for you to enter the fields of racial profiling. I believe it is such a dilemma that nobody should experience. (The result of the case: Among four provisions, three of them were preempted ).

From the perspective of illegal immigrants, they live in constant fear. Some of them turned back to Mexico. The others left their schools or families. It is also ironic in the sense that US does not want to have a decisive stance on immigration because immigrants no matter how they are despised or not welcomed by some people are the indispensable working force of the US. They pay your taxes by working only jobs that do not provide them insurance. They do the jobs that American people would not like to perform. For that matter immigration was, is and will be one of the defining elements of USA.

Hacer Bahar
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UnknownDecember 18, 2014 at 3:41 PM

I particularly enjoyed that presentation in the extent that it rendered to people their "humanity". What I mean here is that the whole system of 'regulation' regarding immigration caused something that, to me, is disastrous : dehumanization. All these "illegal immigrants" are perceived as invaders, ennemies; a lot of US citizens barely consider them as their equal and do not hesitate to kill them at the border 'if necessary'...we saw in class that some citizens are often patroling volontarily at the border in order to protect their country. These men, women, children, leaving everything behind and seeking for a better life are quite simply consider as nothing else than invaders or criminals.
And what I find here completely scandalous is that, if so many people around the world have no other choice but take huge risks in order to survive, it is because of that global capitalistic system that powerful countries such as the USA imposed to the world. Globalization and Capitalism are forcing people, who have no more chances to survive in their country, to seek for opportunities elsewhere.

I want to say few more thinga but I am going to stop here because my internet is pretty shit and I am definitely struggling with it tonight...life in dorms !

Inès Allag
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AMER 495: Race and Ethnicity in AmericaDecember 18, 2014 at 4:15 PM
Firstly, I would like to say thanks for this great presentation to Ezgi and Burcu.

As we pointed out before, there are some theories which explain why people migrate. Some of these theories are neoclassical economics, new economics of labor migration and world system theory. However, in this post I would like to focus on undocumented Mexican citizens whose future is shaped by the US government and its politics.

It is clear that undocumented immigrants are manipulated in the US to create negative perception against immigrants. As we were reading “Operational Gatekeeper” by Joseph Nevin, I found the manipulative power of media in this issue as really interesting. In media, stories about undocumented immigrants are constructed as a “different” way to demonstrate these people as "danger" and "threat" to the unity of the nation. As we analyze the current situation of the US, it is possible to say that media was mostly able to create this perception towards undocumented Mexicans.

Another important point that should be analyzed is that the politics of the US and their approaches to the issue. Strict rules towards immigrants reveals the message of the US: “We do no want immigrants in our country. Even if they can come, it is inevitable for them to face some challanges!”At this point, I can answer your third question which asks whether the government should use its resources to take care of “its own” rather than care for those from other countries (like Mexicans). I can say, “No" for this question. If it is necessary, then the government can use its resources for peoploe from other countries as well. Because I believe before our nationalities, all we are human first. If someone who desperately needs help, you cannot ignore him just because his nationality is different or because he is an immigrant. We have watched many documentaries that show the challenges that Mexican immigrants face as trying to enter to the USA. These people do this, because they need help. At this point, I think the US government should change some of its politics towards these people. Once government changes its approach, the citizens also will change their perception.

This is another video that I found on Youtube. It demonstrates Latin American migrants who risk their lives to reach the US border to achieve their “American Dream”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KvG8BwhSUs

Yasemin Öztemür
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UnknownDecember 18, 2014 at 5:39 PM
Thank you ladies for this well-prepared presentation. I really liked your expression: “the human side of the immigration.”

When we talk about the immigration, the first thing that comes to our mind is the reason why people immigrate and these are the pulling and pushing factors for immigrant groups such as the labor demand in the US and the economic unrest in Mexico. We look at laws and legislations that regulate the immigration but we often ignore to look at the impact of this immigration on people. Whether it is legal or illegal, immigration affects people in a bad way. For example, it is generally the immigrant who gets the worst and dirties job because that person has no choice. He has to stand the bad working and living conditions in order to make a living. An unauthorized immigrant, too, has to work hard to make a living and that person accepts this bad conditions as there were no job opportunities in this home country. In addition to the working conditions, the unauthorized immigrant also lacks of security, health insurance and stuff like that because he is not a legal immigrant which means he cannot demand any right from that country. These are the things that we need to think about the human side of the immigration. How do those illegal immigrants try to make a living? Why do they leave their home countries? Will they ever be welcomed by the new country that they secretly live in? Or Do they always live with the fear of deportation?

I think we can find answers to these questions if we think about the documentaries that explain the US boarder regulations and the experiences of the illegal immigrants in the US. We have already watched one of them in the class and that was very sad to see that people risk their lives because they do not make a living in their own countries. The US is the biggest opportunity for many people but it accepts immigrants according to the labor demand and when things were settled down, the US basically says “No more immigrants.” and that is how it goes...

Also I really liked the question posted on the blog: “If migration is seen as a means of survival, is survival a choice or a necessity?” I think survival is a necessity rather than a choice and that is what most of the unfortunate people try to achieve (they are not fortunate as they are not privileged like the “super white people”). Those people, who are in search of better live conditions for both themselves and their families, see the immigration as a better way to survive because at least they make money. So, these issues are very important to understand what immigrants face and what kind of conditions that they accept just to maintain their lives.

This is of course so sad to realize that there is an obvious difference in economic opportunities between the US and Mexico and the US turns her back to the people who are just across the boarder by setting up boarder patrol. Seeing the human side of the immigration should make people think and care about others who are in need of support and by doings this, we may not lose our humanity or at least our faith in humanity.

-Tansu Özakman
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AMER 495: Race and Ethnicity in AmericaDecember 18, 2014 at 8:15 PM
Thank you for the presentation, ladies.

Talking about World Systems Theory on international migration in class reminded me of a documentary I watched as a teenager. I think it was on Discovery Channel, and I remember feeling unsettled after watching it. It talked about the struggle of local corn farmers in Mexico against US companies who cultivated high-yield GMO corn. Local farmers used natural corn seeds that have been cultivated in their families for generations; however, because they couldn't compete with US companies, most of them sold their lands to these companies to go and live in the US.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find the documentary on Google since I watched it a long time ago and I remember only bits of it. But it stayed with me to this day and now I can understand it better. I believe the most dangerous push factors in international migration are the ones caused by globalization and capitalism since the effects are very large-scaled.

Here's another video I found while searching for the documentary, though its tone is a tad happier than the documentary I watched.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IPClfgXR-g

Esma Şermet
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...Betul...December 19, 2014 at 5:58 AM
Thank you Ezgi and Burcu for their informative and interesting presentation.

First of all, immigration has always been one of the main issues in the U.S history. Especially the undocumented immigration has been an issue to deal with. There are many various reasons and outcomes of the undocumented immigration. As it was mentioned in the presentation "The human side of the immigration" we also watched a video about this issue, that is incredibly touching and dramatic. One of the main reasons of the fact that these people take the risk and try to pass the border illegally is the huge difference of the income rates between Mexico and the U.S. In the U.S. the amount of money that women in the video would earn is three times the amount she earns in Mexico. Moreover, the education and health care services are much better in the U.S. When these are the huge differences and the gap gets on growing there are not much choices to make but to immigrate.

On the other hand, the immigrants have greater expectations from the U.S. but they find less in reality. There are different theories about these issues that the immigration is not an individual decision but the communities, which is the migration theory. Another theory is the world system theory, the idea about this one is that, globalization and capitalization are the main reason for the dramatic change in human status and income rates, and this fact leads people to migrate for better status. Corn is a good example for this theory, in Latin America corn used to be the main agricultural resource of income. The corn they grow was enough for the farmer families and to sell and earn money . But in 80's and 90's with growth of capitalism and agribusiness small farmers could not compete with big corporations and lose the job and even migrate to cities and get lover status jobs.

These, and more of them are all the push and pull factors of immigration and even undocumented immigration. Although the U.S has created some solution ideas for the undocumented immigration such as, reducing the benefits and heighten the payments. It won't be a solution as long as the push factors are worse than the conditions in the U.S.

Rabia Betul Kubilay
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UnknownDecember 19, 2014 at 6:59 AM
Thank you Burcu and Ezgi for this great presentation.
Illegal immigrants refer to those who enter the country without any document due to their difficult economic and social conditions back home, mostly the situation of Mexican immigrants in U.S. These people had to leave their homes and escape to just to seek a place they can live, work, get by, take care of their family and give their children the opportunity to a better future. However, its not all rainbows and unicorns for them even after they move to the U.S. Its really shocking that a lot of Americans harshly protest against them. There's this idea that illegal immigrants are taking the easy way out and occupying the Americans' job positions when a large portion of them work in some of the worst jobs with the lowest payments that a lot of Americans would probably never want to work in, with no social security number, unable to get any health care and any protection from the government. People don't see is the two faced-ness of America in this situation. Illegal immigrants make a huge contribution to the U.S. economy A lot of them are exploited and they are taken advantage of for the benefit of capitalist market, because they do cost a lot less, almost like slaves, and do not even have to right to even report the way they are treated because of their illegal status, as opposed to legal workers being hired. So why not protest this too? They want to benefit from them when they need to but still not accept them as members of their society? For them to work there but be invisible at other times?
To see humanly side of immigration was really important because it is hard for those who live very comfortably in their own countries to sympathize and put themselves in other people's shoes. Immigration is an only way of survival for some and often not a choice but a necessity. Seeing how a lot of these people suffer and endure so much trouble despite how much they contribute to the society, personally, helped me to look at this situation from a different perspective.
People should be more humane about the situation rather than just being worried about what is legal. They should criticize the policies that keeps the undocumented immigrants out of control, or those that alienate and criminalize them forcing them to turn to illegal acts as a means of survival. Rather than asking for every single illegal immigrant to deport the country, despite being born there spend most of their lives there, they should seek ways in which they can still keep a record of the immigrants if they cant give them full documentation, so that they will still have to abide to laws and live in harmony with the society. They should find ways to distinguish the illegal immigrants who are just working, studying there minding their own business, from the small minority of immigrants who indeed may be continuously harmful for the society, then act accordingly rather than put them all under the same category creating a criminal image for all of them. If they cant give them protection under the government with their current status, they should at least give them right to continue their living there. We all live in one world but resources are not distributed to everyone equally unfortunately so we would never ever find peace if we continue to discriminate and hate each other. We should do whatever we can to make sure that those who are unprivileged, can have the same basic rights and fulfill the same basic human needs as we do. We need to put ourselves in their shoes and think whether we would have done anything differently if we were challenged by similarly harsh economic, political, and social conditions. These situations are complex, have risks and it is difficult to maintain such a diverse community of people without problems but certain sacrifices should be made if people see themselves as members of an open, diverse and accepting society and if they do truly believe in equal human rights for all, documented or not documented.

-Sera
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UnknownDecember 22, 2014 at 5:36 AM
"These situations are complex, have risks and it is difficult to maintain such a diverse community of people without problems but certain sacrifices should be made if people see themselves as members of an open, diverse and accepting society and if they do truly believe in equal human rights for all, documented or not documented." I think that's a beautiful sentence, Sera. Well-written, thoughtful, intelligent, and compassionate.
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AMER 495: Race and Ethnicity in AmericaDecember 23, 2014 at 4:10 PM
Thanks Ezgi and Burcu for the presentation, I am sorry I couldn’t make it to class but I watched your rehearsal anyway.

The immigration in the history of U.S., as far as my courses over the collage, has lots of different sides that sometimes leaving a question in minds. There are lots of reasons that people migrated and stay undocumented on a country but this population is quite high in America, especially in San Diego and Mexico because of the border of course. There are several reasons like economic, social or even just to chase the American dream that people tend to leave their own country. In your presentation which I find interesting is focusing on the issue of women immigrants (undocumented). Yet there is the issue of the different salaries between U.S and Mexico, there are reasons for that. When you are undocumented, you cannot reach any medical help in U.S. and you need to be “citizen” for taking governmental aids. Of course the value of life, money and many more is greater in America but for Americans, not for undocumented immigrants.

Digging the same issue, economically the undocumented immigrants are not costing to any enterprise more than immigrants, eventually people will tend to hire undocumented employers. So the two separate system according to text, migration theory and system theory is a kind of distinguishing facts that there are no personal choices sometimes when people migrated and this migration may or not lead those immigrants to a better or worst life conditions. Likewise we see on 207 and 195 courses, or the history courses, migration is mostly related with economy and with this of course the result will be agricultural sites that provide both shelter, food and salary. The rise of Liberalism and the economic legislatures, those situations will as it going down today, will go really bad as payments are falling down for immigrants. As your blog video that sort of student made “illegal students in U.S” was a good example that fitting the society, “conformity and obedience” is another topic that Massey was discussing in the text. Yet Push and Pull factors could be differentiate for peoples but the result will be the same as far as I understand. Thanks.

Serhat BAŞAK
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UnknownDecember 29, 2014 at 6:44 AM
Got it, Serhat. Thanks for sharing!
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