The purpose of this blog is to compare the migration patterns (both domestic and internationally) and the immigration issues between the United States and the European Union. I will be focusing on both domestic migration in the EU and the United States and also immigration from abroad in the respective areas. Lastly, I will be focusing on the immigration issues of the EU and the United States and how they differ because of their historical experiences. This will be discussed further in the blog but it is my personal belief that immigration is a part of American culture and not a part of European culture and that this greatly affects attitudes towards immigrants.
In regards to domestic migration, Americans are tending to leave the East Coast and California and instead are moving to the South and other Western states. The main reasons for people leaving these areas are high taxes, high cost of living, crime, and job opportunities. The pandemic is also accelerating this migration because now people can work from home. There is little point in someone paying a lot of money for homes in California and New York when they could live cheaper in other states. The state with the most people moving in is Florida with a lot of this migration coming from Northeastern states such as New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. Another state receiving a lot of migration from these areas as well as the Midwest is the state of Texas. Another domestic migration pattern in the United States is people are leaving California. Californians are leaving the state to move to states such as Texas, Oregon, and Nevada (Kerns).
In Europe, domestic inter-EU migration tends to manifest itself with people from Eastern and Central Europe migrating to more economically prosperous Western and Southern Europe. For example, large numbers of Polish people migrated to the UK, while lots of Romanians migrated to Italy. These people are migrating from poorer parts of the EU to richer parts of the EU for job opportunities and a higher standard of living (Migration Data Europe).
Domestic migration in the EU is similar to the U.S. because people are moving for job opportunities and improving their living conditions. A major difference between migration in these areas is migration in the EU is technically going to a whole new country. Even though the EU has free movement to other EU states, migrants are still moving to countries with a different language and culture from theirs. This is a fact that could lead to more xenophobia than inter-American migration, where all domestic migrants are Americans. Another major difference is that many Americans are moving because the states they live in are too expensive, this differs from the EU where migration tends to be to more expensive metropolitan cities such as Paris or Rome.
In the United States, immigration from abroad is mostly coming from Mexico, El Salvador, the Philippines, China, and India. All of this being said, about 50% of immigrants to the United States come from Mexico, Central America, and South America (Budiman). In the first generation, these immigrants are often working jobs in the service industry, construction, and living amongst an established community here in the United States. Immigrants from these countries often travel via roads to get to this country, this makes it a cheaper but a far more dangerous option for immigration. A lot of immigrants from Mexico and Central America are fleeing violence and economic instability. Immigration from China and India is also very common but immigrants from these areas tend to have more white collar jobs such as IT and Finance upon immigrating to the United States. This is because they have to fly to this country to get here so it is more common that people who have more money are able to immigrate to this country. All of this being said these are generalizations that have exceptions from both sides. It would be an untrue and offensive generalization to say all Indian & Chinese migrants are well off and all Migrants from Latin America aren’t. This is not at all what I mean and am just trying to capture general trends, which is kind of hard to do.
Immigration into the European Union manifests itself quite differently, immigrants to the EU are often fleeing wars, political unrest and extreme poverty in the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa. This journey often involves migrants taking dangerous journeys across the Mediteranean in order to reach Southern European nations such as Spain, Greece, and Italy (USA for UNHCR). These journeys are made out of desperation and often fraught with danger for the migrants. The goal of these migrants is often not to stay in Southern Europe but to move to Northern and Western European nations such as Germany (Migration Data Portal).
In both the United States and the EU, anti-immigrant sentiment is a major concern. In the European Union, Far Right politicians such as Italy’s Matteo Salvini and France’s Marine Le Pen spew anti-immigrant messages and hatred. Their concerns stem from a perceived possibility of a loss of cultural identity and the view that their economies are not able to handle the influx of migrants. They also view the migrants culture and Islam as being incompatible with the culture of their nations (World Politics Review). It is my belief that this stems from the fact that Europe is not a place that is used to immigration. Historically speaking, Europe is a place where people immigrate from, not people immigrate too. Europe has never had immigration on this massive scale and this leads to these xenephobic attitudes and the idea that they could somehow lose their culture. All of this being said, I am not a European, though I can see how these xenephobic attitudes can arise in a continent where immigration isn’t a part of their culture.
In the United States, we are a nation of immigrants, that is pretty much the entire point of the country. That’s why despite anti-immigration beliefs on the Far Right, we are able to be more accepting of immigrants that come to this country. All of this being said, we still see a major anti-immigration movement that was led by Donald Trump. I believe because of our history as a nation of immigrants, the xenophobia in America is even more shameful. In this country, we have the infrastructure and the need for immigrants but still anti-immigration movements arise. We are a nation of immigrants and immigration is a part of our culture, that’s what makes xenophobia even more shameful.
Maps:
Map 1: European Migration Map:
Map 2: American Immigration Map:
Map 3: American Domestic Migration Map
Work Cited:
Kerns, Kristen. “Moves to and From the South and West Dominate Recent Migration Flows.” The United States Census Bureau, 23 May 2019, www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/04/moves-from-south-west-dominate-recent-migration-flows.html.
“Refugee Crisis in Europe: Aid, Statistics and News: USA for UNHCR.” Refugee Crisis in Europe: Aid, Statistics and News | USA for UNHCR, www.unrefugees.org/emergencies/refugee-crisis-in-europe/.
“Migration Data in Europe.” Migration Data Portal, migrationdataportal.org/regional-data-overview/europe.
Budiman, Abby. “Key Findings about U.S. Immigrants.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 22 Sept. 2020, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/08/20/key-findings-about-u-s-immigrants/.
“Global Migration Is Not Abating. Neither Is the Backlash Against It.” World Politics Review, www.worldpoliticsreview.com/insights/28008/to-ease-the-migration-crisis-europe-and-the-world-must-address-root-causes#:~:text=The%20 European%20 Migrant%20Crisis%20of,immigrants%20to%20fuel%20their%20rise.
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