Unit 5 topic 2 (international migration)

• Voluntary migration


  • Migration between Mexico and the USA
• Over one million Mexicans migrate to the USA yearly to work for the large farming and food processing industries in states such as California, where they can earn ten times the wages they could earn in Mexico
• For every $1 sent home to Mexico by migrant workers, $3 is generated by buying construction materials, food or in people getting contract work
• Push Factors - Reasons people leave Mexico


  • Poor medical facilities - 1800 per doctor
  • Low-paid jobs - GDP per capita $14,406
  • Adult literacy rates 55% - poor education prospects
  • Life expectancy 72 yrs.
  • 40% Unemployed
  • Unhappy life - poor standard of living
  • Shortage of food
  • Poor farming conditions
  • The national average poverty level of 37 per cent
• Pull Factors - Reasons Mexicans are attracted to the USA


  • Excellent medical facilities - 400 per doctor
  • Well-paid jobs - GDP per capita $46,860
  • Adult literacy rates 99% - good education prospects
  • Life expectancy 76 yrs.
  • Many jobs available for low-paid workers such as Mexicans
  • Better housing
  • Family links
  • Bright lights
• Physical barriers to migration

  • Bodies of water
  • Mountains
  • Deserts
  • Man-made barriers like walls, fences, artificial deserts, canals
• Physical barriers are easily overcome with the ability of aircraft, ships and various types of transportation for legal immigration
• To legally immigrate, financial, legal and political barriers must be considered
• To reach California quickly, people sailed to Panama (8 weeks) or around South America (3 months); overland travel took even longer until the first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869
• Visa


  Allows a person to live and work in the USA for a certain length of time
• Green card


  Gives a person the right to live and work in the USA for as long as they want
• Mexicans make up 29.5% of all foreigners in the USA, the Philippines and India follow with about four per cent each
• Mexican immigrants account for about 20% of the legal immigrants living in the USA
• Brain drain is occurring out of Mexico, with an estimated 14,000 of the 19,000 Mexicans with doctorates living in the USA
• Types of border crossing documents


  • Visas for seasonal work
  • Border crossing cards for people living in Mexico who travel across the border for work
• An estimated 6.2 million (or 56 per cent) of all unauthorised migrants are from Mexico
• Reasons for illegal Mexican migration to the USA include visa overstayers, border crossing card violators, and border invaders
• There are only around 500,000 visas issued each year, while millions of people apply for them
• It is very difficult to get a visa if you don't have (legal) relatives living in the USA
• Illegal migration costs the USA millions of dollars for border patrols and prisons
• Mexicans are seen as a drain on the US economy
• Migrant workers keep wages low, which affects Americans
• Mexicans cause problems in cities due to cultural and racial issues
• Mexican migrants benefit the US economy by working for low wages
• Mexican culture has enriched the US border states with food, language and music
• The incidents of TB have been increasing significantly due to the increased migration
• The Mexican countryside has a shortage of economically active people
• Many men emigrate, leaving a majority of women
• Women may have trouble finding marriage partners
• Young people tend to migrate, leaving the old and the very young
• Legal and illegal immigrants together send some $6 billion a year back to Mexico
• Certain villages, such as Santa Ines have lost 2/3rds of their inhabitants