Introduction
For a long time, immigration has been a significant policy subject in the United States, with numerous reports and studies conducted on its motives and implications. Immigration is the movement or relocation of people from one country to another. Factors that promote immigration can be categorized to economic, social, and political causes. Although limited by slight economic downsides and political backlash, immigration is necessary for creating social diversity, protecting individuals’ rights and freedoms, and enhancing international relations. There are two significant groups of immigration causes: economic and social, which are associated with particular consequences.
Economic Causes
First, the economic causes for immigration are high demand of manpower, unemployment, the desire for better entrepreneurial and employment opportunity. Income and economic status differences between resident and destination nations encourage people to migrate from poor to more prosperous countries. Developed countries have a high demand for labor unlike in less developed countries with high unemployment rates (Duan 3). The shortage of specialists in a particular profession in a specific region increases wages for this profession and stimulates the influx of migrants. The effect of the economic causes of immigration is overwhelming the available opportunities and resources. In 2019, the American Immigration Council reported a population of 44.9 million immigrants in the U.S (American Immigration Council 1). The right-wing Democratic Party in the US is opposed to immigration in effect, that unregulated inflow of foreign labor increases job competition, reduced wages, and increased unemployment. The social zeal for a better quality of life and connection to friends and families promoting immigration results in enhanced diversity, improved international relations, cross-cultural exchange, cosmopolitanism and diversity. Immigration has enhanced international relations and access to social amenities such as education.
Social Causes
The social rationale for immigration is aspirations for a better quality of life and connection with close family and friends. Social factors that influence the rate of immigration include crime rate, access to social amenities such as schools, and inter-cultural exchange (Duan 2). An immigrant can sponsor a family member or friend through an affidavit. Political grounds for immigration include state policies, threats of persecution, armed conflict, and humanitarian issues that force people to seek refuge in stable countries. The social causes of immigration are the inclination for a better life, while political migration is often due to unsafe conditions in the residence country. The effect of social immigration is in the occurrence of cosmopolitanism resulting from social immigration enhances the redistribution of wealth diversity and adequate co-existence of nationalities and socio-cultural exchange. Immigration protects the rights and freedoms of individuals advanced of their countries by political factors of armed conflict, state assassination, and discrimination.
Conclusion
Ultimately, immigration is a significant economic, social, and political factor with clashing implications. The desire for better quality of life and family bonds social causes of immigration lead to enhanced diversity, cosmopolitanism, cross-cultural exchange and international relations. Moreover, immigration protects the rights and freedoms of people threatened by political factors. On the downside the economic immigration driven by the desire for better employment and investment opportunities is characterized by high unemployment, prejudice, discrimination, and political backlash. While policymakers perceive immigration to drive slow wage growth and unemployment, Immigrants present remarkable social, economic, and political benefits. Therefore, migration significantly affects the economic and social structure of the countries. The mentioned effects are connected with the primary causes of migration.
Works Cited
American Immigration Council. “Immigrants in the United States.” American Immigration Council, 2021. Web.
Duan, Carson, Bernice Kotey, and Kamaljeet Sandhu. “A systematic literature review of determinants of immigrant entrepreneurship motivations.” Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship (2021): 1-33. Web.