Introduction
Over the years, globalization has resulted in increased movement of people from one part of the globe to another (Milner & Tingle, n.d.). As a result, immigration is today a significant political concern in most countries. Demonstrations have been witnessed in some cities in the world as a result of discontent among citizens due to immigration. While some people felt that inviting immigrants was a good thing, others saw them as a threat to both their economy and the society.
This paper looks at various aspects of immigration. The issues discussed include the reason for immigrants preferring in large global cities over other cities, hostility toward immigrants by nationals, and mechanisms that have helped immigrants to become powerful political groups.
Immigration and Challenges Faced by Immigrants
Over the years, immigration has been a major concern for major cities in the world. While there are many places where immigrants can move to, large global cities are often preferred. Drawing from a study by Ray (2003), large cities across the world are characterized with cultural diversity. Consequently, this is one of the key reasons why immigrants will prefer settling in such places. Global cities also provide a very strong foundation for international business (Bauder, 2012).
Large cities in the world that receive immigrants from all over the place exhibit diversity in numerous areas including culture and religion. The fact that large cities provide a neutral environment for one to settle in attracts scores of people who are afraid of rejection or discrimination. It is also alleged that large cities that are well established are highly experienced in dealing with challenges of diverse situations brought about by immigration.
Arguably, small cities are ill equipped to provide specific needs for immigrants such as housing, education, efficient transportation, and access to employment. Immigrants are thus comfortable moving into cities where they have some level of assurance that their needs will be met. In some of the cities, however, immigrants are paid very low wages.
Nationals respond negatively to new immigrants for a number of reasons. First, there is a concern that immigrants only come to snatch jobs that belong to nationals. The high rate of unemployment in some major cities is thus blamed on immigration.
It is thus presumed that the rising level of joblessness in some large cities in the world can be addressed by strictly controlling immigration. Secondly, nationals argue that most immigrants are criminals and are thus responsible for rising rate of crime. Immigration should therefore be curbed in order to reduce the rate of crime. Nationals also argue that the government has to spend taxpayers’ money to take care of immigrants.
To limit immigration, state governments have resorted to deportation and reinforcement of border security. Efforts have been made by the affected nations to detect and deport all illegal immigrants. Efforts have also been made to improve security at border towns in order to ensure control illegal entry. In some cases, employers have been punished for employing illegal immigrants.
According to Milner and Tingley (n.d), legalizing the status of immigrants in some cities contributed to them becoming a power to reckon with. In addition, activists emerged among nationals to defend the course of immigrants. The political power of immigrants also grew out of disunity among the nationals. Minority groups that were discriminated upon could easily identify with the plight of immigrants and this further strengthened the power of the immigrants.
Conclusion
Clearly, the onset of globalization has created an environment where individuals can move easily from one part of the world to another. However, as discussed in this paper, immigrants tend to concentrate in large global cities which they regarded as ideal settling places. While some nationals treat immigrants suspiciously, others are willing to support them in their quest for justice. This explains why immigrants have ended up becoming powerful political groups in some cases.
References
Bauder, H. (2012). Immigration and Settlement: Challenges, Experiences, and Opportunities. Toronto, Ontario: Canadian Scholars’ Press.
Milner, H. V. & Tingley, D. (n.d.). The Economic and Political Influences on Different Dimensions of United States Immigration Policy. Web.
Ray, B. (2003). The Role of Cities in Immigrant Integration. Web.