e.Class Notes #18

• Countries have adopted selective immigration policies.
• Preference for specific employment placement and family reunification.
• Passing of Quota Act of 1921 and the National Origins Act of 1924 by the US Congress marked the end of unrestricted immigration in the US.
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• Family reunification
• About 3/4 of the immigrants.
• Skilled workers
• Approximately 1/4 of the immigrants.
• Brain drain is a term for disproportionate amount of highly skilled and intelligent citizens migrating away.
• Diversity
• Few immigrants admitted because their sending countries had sent very few immigrants historically.
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• Unauthorized immigrants are those who enter a country without proper documents.
• Characteristics of unauthorized immigrants in the US:
• Source country.
• Roughly 58% emigrate from Mexico.
• Children
• Of 11.2 million unauthorized immigrants, nearly a million are children.
• Some people have given birth to 4.5 million children on US soil making the children US citizens.
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• Years in the US
• Duration of residency has increased for unauthorized immigrants.
• In 2010, 35% of adults had been in the US for at least 15 years.
• Labor force
• Approximately 8 million unauthorized immigrants are employed in the US.
• Distribution
• Texas and California have the largest number of unauthorized immigrants.
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• Mexico's border with the US
• View from the US:
• Some reasons why the unauthorized immigrants felt compelled to enter illegally:
• Employment opportunities.
• Family reunification.
• Better way of life.
• View from Mexico:
• Residents of Northern Mexico  wish for compassion.
• Residents of Southern Mexico are less tolerant because they have the same problem: many unauthorized immigrants are entering Mexico from Guatemala.