Migration patterns and causes

Migration

Schuster, L. & Solomos, J. (2002). Rights and wrongs across European borders: Migrants, minorities, and citizenship. Citizenship Studies 6(1).

Schuster & Solomos (2002) examine the contradictory and often paradoxical nature of citizenship. Citizenship within the nation-state has taken on new meanings in light of the globalization of labor and subsequent population migrations. With a specific focus on Great Britain, France, Germany, and Italy, the authors point out that citizenship offers all-important legal protection for minorities within the nation-state. However, citizenship does not end with the acquisition of political rights and legal rights. Minorities who are legally recognized citizens continue to experience discrimination and exclusion from social, economic, and political institutions.

The migration of individuals and families raises questions about the impact of citizenship on personal as well as national identity. Does an influx of immigrants change the character of a culture? Is a culture defined by its political boundaries, its cultural institutions, or by its ethnic history? Schuster & Solomos (2002) note that political borders have important economic, social, and political functions. The authors bring up the fact that visa regulations impact migration patterns, denying citizenship to some while allowing it for others. The immigration process can alter the ethnic character of a society in a way that can be defined as social engineering. Moreover, multiculturalism is also a paradoxical concept, meaning a simultaneous struggle for true equality and affirmation of difference.

Recently, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has stated unequivocally that multiculturalism has failed in her country. Such statements are proof that questions of citizenship are more important now than ever before. Similarly, the question of how Roma people can claim citizenship within a specific European Union nation while still retaining a mobile lifestyle. The Schuster & Solomos (2002) research therefore points to the crux of the matter: how is identity shaped? At what point do national and ethnic identity diverge, and what policies or social institutions are necessary in order to create positive multiculturalism?

Helton, a.C. (1991). The new convention from the perspective of a country of employment: The U.S. Case. IMR 25(4).

Helton (1991) shows how the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families intersects with existing American immigration, labor, and civil rights law. In short, the United States has not become party to the Convention. The author argues that the Convention would significantly improve the legal protections offered to migrant workers: undocumented or not. However, American domestic legislation must also change in order to enforce the humanitarian protections offered by the Convention.

The most vulnerable migrant worker group is obviously those who have no citizenship or permanent resident status in the United States. Undocumented workers are therefore paralyzed when it comes to exercising their rights, or may be unaware that those rights exist in the first place. For example, an undocumented worker who wants to make a claim of employee abuse, sexual harassment, or poor working conditions might be threatened by the employer. The employer could report the undocumented worker and have him/her and the entire family deported. The rights of the individual in this case are usurped, and the Convention attempts to rectify that situation.