From the book, it is evident that people are forced to seek refuge in foreign countries because of various reasons, including economic reasons, social reasons, and political reasons.
The standards of living might be poor in the home country forcing individuals to shift to places perceived to be with better living standards. In developing countries, the economic conditions tend to be unpredictable, something that makes life difficult for individuals. People might lack employment because companies are compelled to dismiss workers due to continued registration of loses.
Since life might seem comfortable in the host countries, an individual would invite family members to join him or her on temporary or permanent basis. This is often referred to as chain migration. However, political instabilities are the main causes of immigration in the world today. Those perceived to be opposed to the political system of the state are expected to operate outside the state borders. Such individuals are termed as political dissidents because they do not support oppressive policies.
The author of the book goes ahead to suggest that refugees face a serious challenge as regards to human rights. Human beings enjoy fundamental rights and freedoms, irrespective of citizenship, ethnicity, and race.
Immigrants are subjected to unfair treatment and constant discrimination based on race, ethnicity, and gender. In the book, five types of rights are mentioned suggesting that immigrants are expected to enjoy all of them. The first one is the civil rights, which include freedom from cruelty, torture, harassment, and illegal acts by government. Furthermore, an immigrant has a freedom to move freely from home country to the host country.
While in the host country, the law recognizes the rights of immigrants implying that in the eyes of the law, an immigrant has equal opportunities as the aboriginal citizen. The second category of rights pertains to economic rights, what other scholars term as worker rights. Under this category, an immigrant has the right to be employed in any organization and should be protected from unfair treatment, such as discrimination.
Political rights are the third category of human rights granted to any immigrant. This means that immigrants have the right to vote and to be voted for during any election, as long as they qualify. Immigrants are encouraged to maintain their cultures without being forced to assimilate. Finally, all immigrants have social rights meaning that they have the right to access quality education and quality medical care.
However, immigrants are usually subjected to unfair treatment in various countries. For instance, a report compiled by the American Civil Liberties Union observed that immigrants are subjected to unfair treatment in the detention facilities. The organization undertook a study on four main detention facilities in the US. One of the detention facilities was Stewart Detention Center, which is one of the largest detention facilities in the US.
The organization claimed concluded that the facility violates immigration policies yet the government is reluctant to act. Immigrants are housed in a prisonlike facility whereby human and civil rights are observed. In particular, illegal immigrants are victims of unfair treatment in the detention facilities.
Private organizations operate detention facilities in the US, which is against the international law. The human rights groups have urged the government to deregister the private organizations operating the detention facilities on grounds of abuse. From this perspective, immigrants have no rights in the host countries because they are perceived as desperate individuals who have no option, but to work under difficult conditions.