tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post3879096686394532019..comments2023-09-03T05:34:47.181-05:00Comments on anthropological fragments: On Migrants and ImmigrationJBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-9603188197632130022022-08-27T11:07:12.439-05:002022-08-27T11:07:12.439-05:00Thanks for your clarifications and comments. I hop...Thanks for your clarifications and comments. I hope I don’t sound too pedantic if I add two clarifications of my own:<br /><br />1) Hamid’s (and most anthropologists’) argument that humans are all migrants and have always moved does not refer to the settling of empty lands, but to the movement and mixing of peoples over the millennia. Some of that has been violent (think Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great, and the colonization of the Americas) but much of it has been peaceful and unremarkable. A surprising number of people around the world are bilingual, and live in areas (border areas and ethnic enclaves) with multiple cultures and languages, reflecting that mixing. This is also true in Africa, which many people think of as divided into many separate “tribes.”<br /><br />2) No one argues for an “open border” policy; I see that term as used by opponents of immigration to frighten people. The question is just what level of immigration to allow. I think we agree that this is the contentious question.<br />JBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-49598361493732688632022-08-27T03:41:56.461-05:002022-08-27T03:41:56.461-05:00Thank you for the interesting discussion, Professo...Thank you for the interesting discussion, Professor. <br /><br />By "pre-modern migrations", I had in mind the movement of present-day American Indians to North America, Aboriginies from Indonesia to Australia, SE Asians to the South Pacific, and the like. Places where there was no one awaiting them. <br /><br />On refugees: there is an internationally accepted legal definition of who is a refugee and who is not, a definition reflected almost word-for-word in U.S. domestic law. The post-WWII experience to date is that the majority of people who move across borders (or seek to move) do not fit that legal definition. A valid argument may be made that the international community should expand the definition to include, for example, people who lose thier liveliehood due to climate change. Or to include people fleeing domestic abuse (like many of the young women along the southern US border) or generic political instability, or gang violence. <br /><br />But as we understand the accepted legal meaning of "refugee" right now, I don't think it is correct to say that "refugee status is not being granted to many true refugees." <br /><br />After an unusual, politically-inspired nadir during the Trump adminisration, refugee admissions to the U.S. will bounce back to 125,000 this year, roughly the historical norm. This number does not include the tens of thousands of Afghanis fleeing the Taliban take-over who were recently offered safety in the U.S. They were brought to the U.S. under a different (streamlined) program called "humanitarian parole", which also allows for permanent residence. <br /><br />None of this is to argue that the "boat is full", or that we should close our borders, or that we are under siege at the southern border. My basic point is that there are legal ways for the truly needy to migrate to the US (Canada and Australia as well.) Ways that allow for assistance and support when they arrive. Although a 15% foreign-born population is not high, migrants tend to cluster in a relatively few locations in the U.S., stressing local communities. Some mid-sized towns that tradtionally welcomed refugees, for example, can no longer provide support and have asked that no more be sent. <br /><br />Your argument that the U.S. has a moral obligation to open our borders to Central Americans because of past meddling in thier countries is compelling on one level. After all, we welcomed thousands of Afghanis and Iraqis affected by U.S. foreign policy, why not Hondurans, Salvadorans and others in countries disrupted by pre-1985 U.S. policies? I don't have an easy response to this, other than to note that the U.S. is the only G7 developed country that shares a land border with the developing world. The U.S. is therefore relatively easy to reach for millions of people. In addition to the push factors of violence and political instability in Central America, there is a strong economic magnet in the U.S. as well. An "open borders" policy for Latin America could well result in the largest migration of humans since the chaotic and tragic partion of India in 1947. I don't think anyone wants to see that occur. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08554896536363714380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-22976472324925522352022-08-26T15:54:57.157-05:002022-08-26T15:54:57.157-05:00Thanks for your thoughtful comments. Several respo...Thanks for your thoughtful comments. Several responses:<br /><br />1) I think it is unfair to say “Hamid seems to be unaware” of refugee status. It is well known that refugee status is not being granted to many true refugees. The number of refugees admitted to the US has declined dramatically; the ceiling was 110,000 in 2017, and only 30,000 in 2019. https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/immigration-statistics/yearbook/2019/refugee_and_asylee_2019.pdf <br /><br />2) The notion that “pre-modern migration involved relatively small numbers of people moving to areas where there weren’t many previous inhabitants” is specious. Of course the numbers were smaller, but then a small number of migrants could also have a greater impact on the small receiving population. Keep in mind that in 1850, about 15% of the US population was foreign born, and that percentage fell to 4.7% in 1970, and is now back to about 15%, so there has not been a huge increase in the proportion of immigrants in the US. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/charts/us-refugee-resettlement<br /><br />3) Yes, the nation-state created borders, but the idea that people could not cross borders came later. The problem we have is that capital, products, and labor (in the form of guest workers) have increasingly been allowed to cross borders freely, but bodies increasingly cannot.<br /><br />I agree that managing sudden surges of migrants is challenging, but I dispute the description of people as “economic migrants.” Most people do not want to leave their homeland and relatives, but are driven to do so. Many Americans seem unable to understand that migrants are fleeing violence and exploitation in Central America that should be understood as blowback from historical US policies and intervention in the region. In that sense, the national boundary is a “wall” the US is using to shield itself from the chaos and mismanagement and even environmental problems it contributed to.<br />JBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-50797044550503731532022-08-26T08:48:17.072-05:002022-08-26T08:48:17.072-05:00Interesting take on a complex, politically and cul...Interesting take on a complex, politically and culturally charged subject that Mohsin Hamid off-handedly terms "managing the tussle" between those who wish to migrate, and those who do not want them to come. And Hamid seems to be unaware there are legal ways for people who are facing persecution to move across borders to permanent safety: refugee status. The Big Three refugee resettlement countries - U.S., Canada, and Australia - provide shelter for tens of thousands of refugees annually. Other (mostly Western European) countries accept smaller numbers. Skilled economic migrants similarly have legal avenues for migration to some developed countries. <br /><br />Pre-modern human migration involved relatively small numbers of people moving to areas where there weren't many previous inhabitants. The world population explosion in the 19th and 20th Centuries has made large scale human movements impractable - the development of the nation-state (fundamentally defined as a political entity being able to control one's borders) was in part a response to that reality. <br /><br />The challenge is, as Hamid points out, that our present system of managed borders is incompatible with accomodating sudden, massive surges of economic migrants - people attempting to cross borders to flee failed crops resulting from climate change, for example. Should that worst-case scenario come to pass, a re-ordering of the foundation of the nation-state will be required. Difficult to do, particularly when attempts to partially open borders in areas of the world where it is easiest to do so (ie, Western Europe) are faltering today. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08554896536363714380noreply@blogger.com