Migration 2.0

The scale of modern migration is amazing

Global migration entails changes in the shape and structure of our society on a global scale. This phenomenon is present everywhere, and at the same time hidden from view. Of course, skeptics will refer to the constant presence of the theme...

Global migration entails changes in the shape and structure of our society on a global scale. This phenomenon is present everywhere, and at the same time hidden from view.

Of course, skeptics will point to the constant presence of the topic of migration in the headlines. Thus, the law passed in Arizona, directed against illegal immigrants, caused discussion everywhere, from Melbourne to Madrid.

But migration is invisibly present in the background of events that at first glance have nothing to do with this topic. She creates a background for them and leaves her mark on them.

Even specialists involved in the study of labor migration can hardly appreciate all the consequences of this phenomenon. “Political issues, social issues, economic issues, they all have a migration dimension,” says James Hollyfield, a political scientist at Dallas Southern Methodology University. “Although we often don’t pay attention to it.”

What prompted Google not to agree to censorship and to close its office in China? Undoubtedly, many factors played a role, but Google founder Sergey Brin named among them the repression that his family was subjected to in the Soviet Union before emigrating to the United States.

Immigration deepened the division in the American labor movement. In 2005, several unions left the American Federation of Labor at once and formed their own federation, called Change for Victory. The backbone of these unions are low-paid immigrant workers.

This split had far-reaching consequences. Janice Fine, a political scientist at Rutgers University in New Jersey, believes the unions in Change to Win played an important, if not decisive, role in the early stages of Barack Obama's re-election campaign.

“If they had stayed within a larger bureaucratic organization, they would not have been able to decide which candidate to support, including financially,” says Professor Fine.

Scholars sometimes refer to contemporary migration as the third wave of globalization, referring to the first and second waves of the global movement of goods and money that began in the last century.

The globalization of trade and finance also causes certain problems, but they are not as obvious as population migration. A shirt made in Mexico could cost the American worker the loss of his job. On the other hand, a Mexican worker may move to the US and send his children to an American school. But in order to speak with their father, the children will need to learn Spanish.

Back in the 70s, immigration received so little attention that the United States Census Bureau decided to stop asking people what country their parents were born in.

Now one in four US residents under the age of 18 was born either abroad or to an immigrant family. According to the UN, there are 214 million migrants in the world - 37% more than 20 years ago. In Europe, during this time, the number of immigrants increased by 40%, in North America - by 80%. "Today, the world's population is more mobile than ever before," says University of Texas political scientist Gary Freeman.

European countries such as Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain, which in the past supplied the United States with the largest number of immigrants, unexpectedly turned out to be desirable targets for migrants. In 2007, for the first time in Ireland, a native of Africa was elected mayor.

Despite the urgency of the migrant problem, the way America manages to absorb millions of migrants remains the envy of even Europeans, who are usually not inclined to envy America. But today's situation is very different from the legendary past. There are at least four important differences that amplify the effects of migration.

First, the global spread of migration. In the 19th century, the main flow of migration went in one direction: across the Atlantic Ocean. Today, Nepalese workers work in Korean factories, and Mongols do the menial work in Prague. Without migrant workers, the Gulf countries would not have lasted more than a few days.

In the United States, immigrants are now flooding into less-than-immigrant places like Orlando and Salt Lake City.

Second, the effects of migration are exacerbated by the ever-increasing proportion of women. They make up almost half of the migrants, and many of them have children at home. Assuming the role of primary breadwinners for their families, migrant women are changing gender roles in Third World families. The smuggling of women for the needs of the sex industry is also becoming a global problem.

The third difference in the migration of the past: immigrants who came to America through Ellis Island (an island in New York Bay, on which the Statue of Liberty is installed, and until the 60s of the XX century there was a camp that served as the main immigration gateway to the United States), did not have mobile phones and laptops.

Today, a nanny working in Manhattan has the opportunity to talk on the phone with a child left behind in Mexican Zacatecas, vote in Mexican elections and watch Mexican programs on TV. All this facilitates the existence of migrants, but, according to many, makes it difficult for them to integrate into a new society.

Finally, in an era of global jihadism, migration poses an additional threat. A Pakistani expatriate who pleaded guilty in May to attempting to stage a terrorist attack in Times Square said he received instructions from Yemen via the Internet.

There is at least one other factor that amplifies the effects of modern migration: the expectation that governments will be able to keep it under control.

Almost until the very end of the 19th century, immigration to America was not limited in any way. Today, Western governments seek to promote international trade and tourism and respect the rights of ethnic minorities, while at the same time keeping borders closed. Their failures on this path undermine the credibility of the government.

“You can say that the government is demonstrating its impotence to the people,” said Demetri Papademetriou, founder of the Migration Policy Research Institute in Washington. “As a result, we are witnessing growing bitterness and a wave of anti-government demagogy.”