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Lynda BalloniDr. Eric RossGEO 3302: Political Geography15 December 2014

Voluntary International Migration

Since the end of the colonial period, international and internal voluntary migration has

increased due to globalization as well as economic growth and development as a result of

technological advances encouraging more interaction between countries (Arango 16). In their

article “Postcolonial Migrations”, Mains et al take a sociological approach to explaining the

trajectories of migrants in the post-colonial era and proclaim that even though there was a

distinct increase in voluntary migration during the latter half of the twentieth century, migrants

are still often considered outsiders in the countries they move to and can be pressured to choose

between their country of origin and the one in which they reside in order to “fit in” in either

location (132-134). Despite the stigma that comes with living in a country outside of their own,

one influential factor for migrants in the post-colonial period was to “move ‘beyond’ the weight

of colonialism by living ‘somewhere else’” (139). Although their explanation for the psychology

behind migration is thought-provoking, peoples’ decisions to migrate and where to go are

generally more influenced by their proximity to the country, the demand for labor in their home-

country versus their destination and cultural and linguistic similarities between the countries.

Due to the spike in voluntary migration in the post-colonial world, political scientists,

geographers, economists, sociologists and the like have attempted to come up with theories to

explain why migrants choose to move to particular places. The first prominent theory on

migration that developed in the post-colonial era is the Neoclassical explanation, which looks at

countries’ labor forces and wages to interpret the phenomenon. According to Arango’s

interpretation of this theory:

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Migration results from the uneven geographical distribution of labour and capital. In

some countries, or regions, labour is scarce relative to capital, and its price – the wage

level – is correspondingly high, while in other countries or regions the opposite obtains.

As a result, workers tend to go from countries or regions where labour is abundant and

wages low to labour-scarce countries where wages are high (18).

The theory is clearly flawed in that it does not account for any non-economic reasons for

migration, and it fails to explain why so few people choose to migrate in response to the

economic conditions mentioned or why certain countries with large labor forces and low wages

see more emigration than others (19-21). The New Economics of Labor Migration theory

developed from the Neoclassical explanation by using the approach that people use rational

decision making skills based on economic conditions in their choice to migrate. However, this

theory focuses more on migration as a choice that includes and effects entire family units rather

than individuals and sees migration as a tool for diversifying income sources rather than

maximizing its amount (22). The ultimate goal of increasing the abundance and availability of

income is also not seen in absolute terms but rather looked at in relation to other members of

someone’s community. By this theory, communities with greater economic disparity should see

more emigration. Perhaps the most apparent flaw in the New Economics of Labor Migration

theory is that it only focuses in on factors leading to migration pertaining to the migrants’

country of origin, and ignores the receiving country. Interestingly enough, the conclusions

drawn from this theory apply more to migration from areas in rural Mexico than the world as a

whole (23).

In contrast with the New Economics of Labor theory, the Dual Labor Market theory

hones in on the factors that encourage migration that pertain to the receiving country. According

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to this theory, there will always be a demand for foreign labor in industrialized countries since

two economic levels exist in these states: a “primary sector” that produces most of the capital

and employs mostly the country’s citizens and a low-productivity “secondary sector” that is

pivotal to the country’s prosperity but that local workers are generally not willing to take part in

since working in this sector connotes having low-status in society. The theory also states that

raising wages in the secondary sector would not solve the issue of the stigma associated with

working in it since wages in the primary sector would have to be raised accordingly and the

result would only be inflation in the country (24). Foreign workers are willing to accept the

secondary jobs since a) the wages are comparatively high to those in their home country and b)

they would face issues of the “status” associated with certain jobs in their home countries and

would not be particularly concerned with this reputation in the country the migrated to (25).

The World System theory looks at migration from a Marxist perspective and views the

world as being divided into “core countries” (the global north) which dominate the “peripheral

countries” (the developing global south). Migration occurs from the peripheral countries to the

core countries but does not reduce the economic inequality between the two sets of countries but

actually reinforces it. The neo-colonial countries exploit the developing countries for resources

and labor just like during the colonial period when the colonizers took advantage of their

colonies. A shortage of work in the rural areas of the peripheral countries causes internal

migration into the country’s cities in search of jobs, but when work is also scarce or wages are

low in the country’s urban sectors it forms a proletariat in need of employment who are inclined

to migrate outside their country in search of jobs. This theory helps explain why people from

former colonies often have a tendency to migrate to their former colonizing countries since even

though the colonial period officially ended, the pattern of exploitation and dependency it created

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still exists (26-27). None of these theories fully encompass the factors that influence migration

patterns since they all look at migration from one narrow perspective, but when examining

voluntary migration from Africa to Europe and Mexico to the United States, each one does assist

in understanding reasons for migration to varying degrees.

The economic, political, and environmental difficulties that abound within many African

countries paired with demands for labor in the global north, particularly European countries in

this case, have created an environment conducive to both voluntary migration and refugee

situations between the continents of Africa and Europe (Grillo and Mazzucato 175-176). Before

the mid-1970s, migrants to European countries came mostly from within the continent,

specifically from its Mediterranean countries, but the last quarter of the twentieth century saw a

shift in this patter (Brochmann 57). The number of Africans who migrate to Europe has

increased, as well as their ability to live transnationally rather than permanently emigrating from

their countries due to the presence of newer and cheaper forms of communication and

transportation, which also makes it possible for migrants to maintain strong ties with their home

countries while they are living abroad. In addition to these abilities to travel back and forth

between countries and communicate with family and friends back home, African migrants tend

to congregate in specific neighborhoods in large European cities where they live amongst other

people from their home countries during their time in Europe (Grillo and Mazzucato 176-184).

Increasing population paired with slow development in many African countries explains the

majority of cases of Africans migrating to Europe (Brochmann 68). Many African migrants who

travel to Europe for work are skilled workers, but once they arrive in their countries of

destination they end up taking jobs well below their abilities since unskilled jobs make up the

majority of the positions that are in demand in European countries (Grillo and Mazzucato 184).

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Proximity to European countries as well as shared language are the main factors that

influence which particular countries African migrants travel to and from. Generally speaking,

the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Germany receive mostly Anglophone immigrants, and

France gets a majority of Francophone people, while Southern Europe sees a diverse group of

migrants (182). Most undocumented migration to Europe occurs in Greece, Italy, Spain, and

Portugal since these countries still see high amounts of emigration, so their demand for unskilled

labor is high. Most of the African immigrants heading to Western Europe come from Cape

Verde, Eritrea, Somalia, Ghana, the Gambia, and Guinea. France and Belgium see more

percentages of immigrants coming from Africa than other European countries, with France

receiving a large amount of Algerians and West Africans and Belgium seeing mostly Moroccans

(Brochmann 59). As far as migration from African countries goes, Ghana has the most

emigrants, followed by Nigeria and Senegal (Grillo and Mazzucato 182).

Despite the fact that most African migrants travel to Europe legally with Visas and via air

travel, the majority of research conducted on this topic, outside of statistics, is focused on the

phenomenon of boat migration. These migrants travel either through the Atlantic Ocean or

across the Mediterranean Sea in wooden boats called pirogues (Andersson 120). This form of

travel for African migrants started in Morocco during the 1990s, but its common departure points

have since expanded to include other port cities like Dakar, Nouadhibou, Saint Louis, Conakry

and Freetown in the twenty-first century (Godenau 11). To curb this particular form of

undocumented migration, Spain passed new immigration laws which made it more difficult for

migrants to travel to Europe via the Canary Islands, one of the most popular routes for boat

migrants. Since the economic crisis hit Spain hard in 2007 and the political situation in North

Africa at the same time reduced border controls along the Mediterranean, popular migration

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routes to Europe shifted back from going through the Canary Islands to across the Mediterranean

Sea (13). However, Spanish groups established to prevent undocumented immigration such as

Frontex and the Spanish Guardia Civil have patrolled the Mediterranean as well since 2006

(Andersson 120). According to Jean-Pierre, the commissioner of Cite Police in Dakar, “the

maritime route has been bottled up, the air route has become more and more difficult. What’s

left? The land route, and this is more difficult too. They’re closing over there as well, and there

are lots of deaths” (122). Spain has outsourced some of their immigration control positions to

African workers in the Sahara and the Sahel in order to protect their borders from any potential

undocumented migrants travelling through North Africa in addition to increasing their border

patrolling in the Canary Islands (122). Therefore, even though the main migration routes to

Europe shifted from through the Canary Islands to through North Africa and the Mediterranean

Sea, any undocumented migration from Africa into Spain has decreased since 2007 (Godenau

13).

The island country of Malta lies on

one of the major routes of African migrants

who are travelling to Europe which are

represented in Figure 1. The major

departure points for this route through

North and East Africa are various

Fig. 1:” Mediterranean Migration Routes”“Mapping Mediterranean Migration.” BBC News Europe.http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24521614

coastal cities in Egypt and Libya (Falzon 1662). These migrants do not usually plan on having

Malta as their final destination but rather as a stopping point on their way to mainland Europe,

and in some cases these migrants may have even been hoping to land in Sicily, but ended up in

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Malta instead by mistake due to shortsightedness on the part of the orchestrator of their journey

(1668). According to Falzon, the Sub-Saharan migrants who arrive in Malta are considered

unwanted guests by the majority of the Maltese people. Xenophobia is rampant throughout most

of the world, particularly in countries that receive lots of immigrants, but it is exacerbated in

Malta since their location on a few small islands means that their territory and natural resources

are especially limited. They have an aggravated fear and resentment of foreigners due to this

“island-ness” (1661). Godenau’s view on islands from his study of the Canary Islands differs

from Falzon’s and his research about Malta; he sees them not as “marginal islands” but “world

islands” which connect different parts of the world rather than rejecting the imposition of outside

people, and migration follows the same pattern as the flow of capital, goods, services, and socio-

cultural bonds in this respect (Godenau 3). Boat migrants travelling from Africa to Europe have

faced increased difficulties in this form of travel since it gained prominence it the 1990s due to

new immigration policies in European countries, but it is important note that it is not a common

method of migration despite the presence research conducted that pertains to it, and the majority

of African migrants to Europe arrive legally and via air travel.

Mexico and the United States have a shockingly strong relationship when it comes to

migration, representing the importance of proximity in migration movements. From the years

1991-1998, Latin American immigrants made up 48% of immigration to the United States and

Mexico had the most immigrants head to the U.S. of any country in the world with 4,681,311

people, not even including undocumented immigrates (Saenz, Morales, and Ayala 221-222).

The United States’ policies on immigration change from year to year depending upon the state of

the U.S. economy, and Mexican labor provides a convenient way to fill low-skill positions when

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employment in the United States is high, but in case unemployment spikes the law remains

flexible to accommodate this event (Zamudio 132).

Looking at this migration from the Mexican side, 99% of Mexican emigration was to the

United States and 92.6% of municipalities in Mexico showed some presence of international

migration in the year 2001 (131, 138). Mexico also has the highest percentage of its population

living abroad compared other other country in the world (135). Either high unemployment due

to Mexico’s population growth or enticing salary differentials are usually the initial inspiration

for Mexicans to emigrate to the U.S. Once some migrants succesfully reach the United States,

they are able to report back about their experience to family and friends still residing in Mexico,

at least in theory making this process easier for the next wave of migrants (131). The process of

migrating from Central America to the United States is still often incredibly dangerous. Freight

trains are one common form of transportation, and migrants will generally ride on top of the

trains, exposing them to harsh weather conditions as well as the risk of slipping off the side of

the train if they fall asleep. Police and criminals alike will also extort money from the migrants

to allow them to remain on the trains, and entire trains have even been held ransom (Pindando

44). Some cities have shelters for migrants to stay in overnight along their journey, but many of

them, such as the one that formerly existed in Tutitlan, Mexico, have been shut down by the

government due to pressure from the local residents, so it is common for migrants to sleep

outside instead (45). According to the National Human Rights Commission of Mexico, eight out

of ten Central American migrants face some sort of violence on their journey to the United

States, 60% of women migrants are raped while crossing Mexico, and over 20,000 migrants were

kidnapped in Mexico in the year 2011 alone (47).

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Undocumented migration from Mexico was curbed slightly immediately following the

implementation of the Immigration Reform and Control Act in 1986, but it made up a significant

portion of immigration to the United States before the act and is still common today. In 1982,

there were approximately 100,000-300,000 undocumented migrants from Mexico living in the

United States, accounting for 1-3% of the country’s population growth. The typical

undocumented migrant was a young, unskilled and relatively poor male from a rural area in

Mexico heading for an urban part of the U.S. who would spend six months to one year in the

United States at one time and make four-five of these trips in his lifetime (“Undocumented

Migration from Mexico: Some Geographical Questions” 77). The main factors that influenced

where the undocumented segment of the migrant population chose to move in the United States

were railroad access and economic opportunity (80). Until the 1920s when California became

connected to Central Mexico, New Mexico and Texas had the highest Mexican population in the

United States, but since California had higher wages, better working conditions, more social

acceptance for Mexican immigrants, better rights for undocumented workers, less severe border

patrol, and strong and abundant Chicano groups, it became a more popular destination once it

gained easier railroad access (79). Some of the same factors which made California a popular

destination led to an increase in Mexican migrants residing in the Northwest and the Northeast

paired with steadily declining numbers in the Southwest from 1973-1978 (80). In 1982, three

different rail-lines connected Mexico to the United States which led directly into either Southern

California or Texas, cementing these two states as common destinations for migrants despite the

diversification of their endpoints due to the search for economic opportunity and social

acceptance (84). Migrants who move to San Antonio, Texas mostly come from North East

Mexico (particularly the state of Coahuila), feeding into the importance of proximity, whereas

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those who move to Chula Vista, California (just south of San Diego) primarily come from

Western Mesa Central, Michoacan, and Jalisco in the Southwest. Looking at the entire United

States, most Mexican migrants come from the Central portion of the country, but the

concentration of Mexican migrants in the U.S. as a whole is not nearly as strong as those living

in San Antonio and Chula Vista (83).

The implementation of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) in 1986

decreased the flow of undocumented migration into the United States temporarily since it caused

an increase in the costs of guided passage from Mexico to the U.S. as well as the risks associated

with it and made it more difficult for undocumented migrants to find work in the United States

(“Immigration Reform and Migrant Flows” 717). The IRCA placed sanctions on employers who

hired undocumented workers, offered amnesty for any undocumented immigrants who were

living in the United States at the time of the act, and increased the concentration of border

personnel and surveillance at the U.S.-Mexican

border (716). However, the IRCA was not

effective in the long run as shown by the

continued rise of undocumented migrants to the

U.S. as a percentage of all migrants and in sheer

numbers as shown in Figure 2. At the same time

that the act came into effect, Mexico was

experiencing an economic crisis that was

particularly affecting

Fig. 2: “Undocumented Vs. Documented Migrants”Vogel, Richard D. “Migration to the U.S.: Legal Admissions and Unauthorized Migrants, By Decade, 1960-2010”http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2006/vogel200606p.html

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the southern portion of the country (722). While northern Mexico was experiencing a spike in

foreign investment and a decline in emigration related to this occurrence, southern Mexico was

overpopulated, seeing a decline in its agriculture, and experiencing environmental problems

including the earthquake in Mexico City in 1985, forest fires, air pollution, and a pipeline

explosion (724). Prior to the IRCA, the majority of Mexican migrants (excluding those from

northern states) were poor and far from an employment pole (mostly from rural areas) but these

internal factors that Mexico was experiencing at the same time the act was implemented

increased the number of migrants who came from metropolitan areas and the southern states

(721). The most common locations to experience emigration in Mexico and to received

immigrants in the United States as well as the percentage of undocumented Mexican migrants

constantly fluctuates depending on variations in the United States’ immigration policy and

economic opportunity, but the strong relationship between these two countries has remained

consistent for decades.

While there are very distinct differences between migration patterns from Africa to

Europe and Mexico to the United States, some noteworthy common factors between the two

groups of migrants are the importance of employment opportunities, cultural acceptance, and

proximity in the decision of where to migrate. African migrants travel to countries all over

Europe in search of employment and often migrate to countries that share their official language

while Mexican migrants overwhelmingly travel to the United States and which part of the United

States they travel to is mostly determined by its proximity and economic climate. The method of

travel also varies between these two groups of migrants, with African migrants generally

traveling to Europe by airplane with a very small segment travelling by boat, while Mexican

migration to the U.S. is generally by car or train in the case of undocumented migrants and

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railroad access plays an important role in determining these migrants’ destination. Despite the

significance of proximity for migrants in the case studies examined in this paper, a study from

The Economist shows that generally speaking, it is not one of the main factors in determining

where people migrate, as represented in Figure 3.

Fig. 3: “World Migration Patterns.”“Distance No Object.” The Economist.http://www.economist.com/node/10286197

Although reasons for migration and its modes of transportation will vary by region and by the

individual migrant, the search for employment opportunity with higher wages than one’s home

country in a country that is easily accessible is generally the most common for why and where

migrants choose to move.

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Works Cited

Andersson, Ruben. "Hunter and Prey: Patrolling Clandestine Migration in the Euro-African

Borderlands." International Political Science Review 87.1 (2014): 119-50. Academic

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Arango, Joaquin. "Theories of International Migration." International Migration in the New

Millenium. Ed. Daniele Joly. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2004. 15-35. Print.

Brochmann, Grete. "The European Migration Pattern: Movements from the East and the South -

Migration from the South." European Integration and Immigration from Third Countries.

Oslo, Norway: Scandinavian UP, 1996. 57-68. Print.

“Distance No Object.” The Economist. 3 January 2008.

http://www.economist.com/node/10286197

Falzon, Marc-Anthony. "Immigration, Rituals, and Transitoriness in the Mediterranean Island of

Malta." Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 38.10 (2012): 1661-680. Academic

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Grillo, Ralph, and Valentina Mazzucato. "Africa < > Europe: A Double Engagement." Journal of

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Nov. 2014.

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Jones, Richard C. "Immigration Reform and Migrant Flows: Compositional and Spatial Changes

in Mexican Migration after the Immigration Reform Act of 1986." Annals of the

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Jones, Richard C. "Undocumented Migration from Mexico: Some Geographical

Questions."Annals of the Association of American Geographers 72.1 (1982): 77-

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