People in poorer or lesser developed countries today often envy life in the United States and try to come here. The goal being, to have a better life, to get an education, to send money home to support their families, or any combination there of. I wanted to start off by exploring why it is people leave their country for another, specifically the United States.
When looking for reasons for migration, I found an article for kids, or rather students, explaining migration and why people migrate. I found that this page from BBC's Bitesize is one of the best explanations of migration because it is pretty straight to the point and easy to understand. There are a myriad of reason why people migrate, but this informative article has the perfect textbook answers to our question of why people leave their country for another.
It's all about push and pull factors, what's pushing people out of their country and what's pulling them to our's. For example, some push factors might be: lack of resources in home country, large amounts of crime, poverty, war, as well as environmental factors such as drought or flooding. These are all things that in a way "push" people out of their home land. This also has to do with refugees and asylum seekers. Pull factors are what draw people to a certain country, it's what appeals. The most common pull factors are: a safer place to live/ low crime rate, more employment, stable politics, more wealth, better resources/services, and less environmental disasters. (Basically the opposite.)
To tie this to the memoir The Distance Between Us, I'm looking at the push and pull for the individuals in this story. Reyna's father immigrated to the U.S. to find employment and make money so he could build a nice house back in Mexico. Reyna's mother immigrated, also, to find work and send money home. The push factors in this situation are: low employment and low income. The pull factors are: higher employment and higher income. Later when Reyna immigrates herself, the push factor is low income and the pull factors are higher income, better education and opportunity for success. In Reyna's instance, there is more pull than push. The concept is quite easy to grasp.
To talk about the origin of immigration in this country... the United States of America is a nation built by immigrants. Our country was founded by Europeans seeking a better life somewhere else. They usurped territories from the Native Americans, and from there created a nation. A place that is thought to be "The Land of Opportunity", where the grass is always greener, and a place where everyone is happy. If the reasons for this immigration have the same push and pull factors for today, then why do we have so many laws against immigration? I realize that there are some downsides, issues of security, the drug cartel and others. But more often than not people immigrate to this county for these innocent push and pull factors. What I don't understand is how this country can be so hypocritical when it comes to immigration, it's a compliment to have people wanting to live here, in such a great place. That's just my thinking. :)
It's all about push and pull factors, what's pushing people out of their country and what's pulling them to our's. For example, some push factors might be: lack of resources in home country, large amounts of crime, poverty, war, as well as environmental factors such as drought or flooding. These are all things that in a way "push" people out of their home land. This also has to do with refugees and asylum seekers. Pull factors are what draw people to a certain country, it's what appeals. The most common pull factors are: a safer place to live/ low crime rate, more employment, stable politics, more wealth, better resources/services, and less environmental disasters. (Basically the opposite.)
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| An image from the BBC page showing the Push and Pull factor. |
To tie this to the memoir The Distance Between Us, I'm looking at the push and pull for the individuals in this story. Reyna's father immigrated to the U.S. to find employment and make money so he could build a nice house back in Mexico. Reyna's mother immigrated, also, to find work and send money home. The push factors in this situation are: low employment and low income. The pull factors are: higher employment and higher income. Later when Reyna immigrates herself, the push factor is low income and the pull factors are higher income, better education and opportunity for success. In Reyna's instance, there is more pull than push. The concept is quite easy to grasp.
To talk about the origin of immigration in this country... the United States of America is a nation built by immigrants. Our country was founded by Europeans seeking a better life somewhere else. They usurped territories from the Native Americans, and from there created a nation. A place that is thought to be "The Land of Opportunity", where the grass is always greener, and a place where everyone is happy. If the reasons for this immigration have the same push and pull factors for today, then why do we have so many laws against immigration? I realize that there are some downsides, issues of security, the drug cartel and others. But more often than not people immigrate to this county for these innocent push and pull factors. What I don't understand is how this country can be so hypocritical when it comes to immigration, it's a compliment to have people wanting to live here, in such a great place. That's just my thinking. :)
I love how you did an article on the push and pull factors because I feel like most people don't understand that immigrants come to this country for more than just employment. The picture that you used was perfect to clearly explain the potential push and pull factors. You expressed yourself very clearly and didn't just ramble on.
ReplyDeleteYour blog post shows some of the reasons people cross the border illegally, which is sometimes overlooked by the citizens of the US, who wonder why they are coming here. It's no surprise that the people emigrating from their countries are facing poverty, but it may come as a shock to the extent of how bad it is. Having a safer atmosphere with better economical issues is just one of the pull factors of the US, which compared which compared with Guatemala and other countries, is a new and welcoming experience.
ReplyDeleteI like how in your blogpost you have reasons on why people are choosing to immigrate along with the push and pull factors. Most people don't really understand what people and why people make the choice to immigrate. Everyone wants a better life for themselves and these people actually did. Very good job, along with your expelling and the visual aid.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your entire post. Especially the push and pull example. I understand that it is probably really hard to immigrate from another country because of the language and the law aspect, but people do it anyways. The people who choose to immigrate probably want a better life from where ever they car from.
ReplyDeleteYou showed a simpler and cleaner way to describe the push and pull factors by getting information from a picture. It was a well though out idea and I enjoyed reading your perspective on the topic. Although, I wish you would have talked a little more about how the picture related to the memoir, The Distance Between Us. But overall, it was an interesting and unique post that I enjoyed learning and discovering more about immigration from. Great post Stella!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this, it was very true, And I agree with you, people forget that it was the native americans who lived here first, and it upsets me how there is people getting kicked out and having to leave their families behind, or when Mexicans migrate from Mexico to here and they leave their families to be able to give them a "better life" but in reality they might making it worse I mean they must be helping them, with money and such, but the pain of not seeing your family member in a long time, it sucks. And I personally know how it feels to not see someone for a long time.
ReplyDeleteI liked reading this because it helped me get a more understanding of immigration. It's sad that parents have to leave their friends and family behind. I bet they would be scared as well because they don't know anyone in the US, so they are doing it alone. Thanks for making it easy to read!
ReplyDeleteI know I read this over the summer to help me structure my blog posts! It was super helpful to get a run down on pull and push factors again, as if I didn't get enough of that in AP last year! Although in this post you made it very clear why people move all over the place, it's good to get back to the basics and analyze things like these basic topics.
ReplyDeleteYou say that it is confusing as to why our country isn't more sympathetic towards people coming to our country looking for the american dream. I have had similar thoughts, our country was founded by immigrants from Europe, and then we kicked out the native people, so why should we be such hypocrites when other people are trying to seek a better life. But we are afraid that they will take all our jobs, and take over, when we did exactly the same to the people before us. Why can't we let them join us, instead of sending them away and making it nearly impossible to come back?
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