Migration is defined as the movement of people from one location to another location, either voluntarily or forced. An example of migration is the movement of Mexicans from Mexico to USA. This is a form of voluntary migration and more often than not is illegal as Mexicans choose to cross over from Mexico to the state of California in the U.
S. A. , without a legal visa from the U. S.
U. S. has used various methods to protect the 2000 km border between US and Mexico. Over 57% of all illegal immigrants in the US are Mexican.
This is a major cause of concern for the US as this results in exploitation of this labour and the presence of an informal economy which may assist in harmful activities such as terrorism and drug cartels. According to Lee’s migration model, there are a large number of factors i. e. push, pull and neutral factors that affect movement of people from one location to another. Push factors are factors that encourage to people to leave the origin.
In the case of Mexico, a large number of people were inclined to leave Mexico , due to poor work conditions and low paid jobs with a weekly wage of $60 ( a sixth of that of the US’s).With over 1800 people per doctor in Mexico, the standard of healthcare is very poor and not easily accessible in remote locations. Due to Mexico’s open market economy, this leads to exorbitant prices for health care which ties in with Mexicans being inclined to leave Mexico as they don’t have the wages necessary to pay the relatively high healthcare costs when compared to income. Many immigrants also take families in hope of providing their children with a better education with adult literacy rate at a mere 55% in Mexico.
Pull factors are factors that encourage migrants to enter the destination country. The U. S. A has incomes over 6 times those of Mexico’s which went remitted back to the origin country i. e.
Mexico results in massive changes in the standard of living of family members back in Mexico. Better medical and educational facilities are available for people who legally immigrate to U. S. A.
The origin countries have some benefits when a certain sector of the population emigrates to other countries.It is in Mexico’s interest when Mexicans emigrate to the USA as it results in remittances of $6 billion every year. This helps improve standard of living and helps provide education and healthcare for the families of the economically active that migrate to the USA. But these advantages are only to a certain extent. There are also social disadvantages of family not being able to meet. Also, Mexico’s GDP is affected as those migrants will not assist in producing goods and services for Mexico’s economy.
The destination also gains a variety of advantages through migration. The U. S. receives a gain in GDP as the migrant works help produce goods and services for them. Migrants also assist in taking up unwanted jobs by Americans. Although, there are limitations to the advantages as well, large amounts of money are sent out of the country in the form of remittances.
The unaccounted migrants which cross the border cause social problems as they spread discontent in the American public as they perceive that their jobs are being taken away.They also cause political problems as they don’t pay tax and can assist in terrorist activities with no knowledge of their presence as they are illegal. In comparison, both the origin and the destination country have their advantages and disadvantages but U. S. A.
seems to have a greater benefit as their growth is sustainable i. e. if a Mexican builds a road, that road is likely to stay for a long time unlike the remittances sent to Mexico, which are unsustainable as they will eventually run out.
