ETHICS AND IMMIGRATION

Ethics and Immigration



Ethics and Immigration

Introduction

One of the driving forces behind early U.S. federal immigration law, beginning with the first major legislation, the Immigration Act of 1882, was the exclusion of “defective” people (as well as those considered criminal or immoral, problems seen at the time as resulting from “mental defect”). Federal legislation throughout this period repeatedly, and with everincreasing urgency, identified defective immigrants as a threat to the nation. In 1907, the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Immigration declared that “the exclusion from this country of the morally, mentally, and physically deficient is the principal object to be accomplished by the immigration laws” (U.S. Bureau of Immigration 1907:62). When immigration quotas based on nationality were enacted in 1924, a rhetoric of “inferior races,” based on claims that people of certain nationalities are prone to be physically and mentally defective, was instrumental in creating the image of the “undesirable immigrant.” (Gimpel, 2009, 14).

Discussion and Analysis

Given the inconvenience involved in relocating to a new country, and the uncertainties people face when they leave their familiar environment, such decisions are not reached casually. Reasons that underlie immigration could broadly be categorized into “push” and “pull” factors. The push factors range from extenuating circumstances, such as being displaced by wars and other natural disasters, and the motivation to escape political or religious persecution, to simple dissatisfaction with one's economic and social life. For instance, the civil wars in Liberia and Rwanda led many people to flee their countries to seek refuge elsewhere. While some of these people might return to their home countries, many others would remain permanently in the nations that granted them asylum. Similarly, lack of jobs and declining economic conditions might make a country less attractive, motivating individuals to emigrate to escape such economic and social hardships.

While these push factors may explain the inclination to move out of one particular country or region of the world, they cannot fully account for the choice of nations in which individuals and their families ultimately settle. Immigration is jointly determined by the push factors, as well as certain pull factors, such as the belief that a particular country offers religious and political freedom, better chances for social and economic advancement, and greater opportunities for fulfillment in all aspects of life. For instance, individuals may be motivated to migrate to a particular country where they believe their skills would be put ...