Media Reaction
Sarah Hickman
SOC 315: Cultural Diversity January 25, 2014 Nancy Cupp, Facilitator

Week Three Individual Assignment I choose the article “Immigration: Asylum some member states have more work to do than other.” This article is about immigrants seeking asylum in other states in Europe and not getting the same results as Greece. In addition, Greece has received support financially more than the other states between 2007 and 2011. According to the courts in Europe, the human rights are not respected, as a result the Commission is monitoring human dignity. The treatments of the immigrants have been awful so as a result they have closed the worst camps. Incidents have shown that supervisors are let go due to their behaviors towards migrants. The Neo-Nazi Golden Dawn Party has also showed racism attacks towards the migrants. Migrants are still applying for asylum in Europe because of the Syria crisis. It shows that there have been 332,000 requests for asylum in Greece in 2012, which is higher than last year (European Social Policy, 2013). In the overview, it first started by simply informing its readers what the definition of immigrants actually is. According to the overview, immigrants are individuals who have left their country or area of origin to settle in another country or territory. It also told us what immigrant really was. When dealing with immigrants and immigration, there are two main categories for the reasons of their migration. The first category is known as “push factors.” Push factors are those reasons that cause immigrants to migrate from their country of origin. Seeking better paid jobs, escaping from natural disasters, or escaping from racial discrimination would all be considered as push factors. The second category is known as “pull factors.” Pull factors are those that make a place very appealing and attractive to immigrants. Migrating from a colder place to a place like Florida, due to its warmer temperatures and climate are considered as pull factors. The English language derived from all of the different people, mostly immigrants, who migrated to Britain over the years. Bits and pieces of every language that was brought to Britain merged together and helped form what we now know as the English language. In the sixteenth century, about 250 thousand people migrated to the Americas. By the nineteenth century, about 50 million immigrants had moved to North and South America. According to a report by The Pew Research Center, in 2009 there were 11.3 million illegal immigrants in the United States. That same report showed that in 2012, the number of illegal immigrants had risen to 11.7 million illegal immigrants living here, in the United States. According to the news video “Pew Report: Mexican Migration Into U.S. Has Slowed,” between 2007 and 2010, the number of Mexican immigrants has decreased in the U.S. due to an almost equal amount of immigrants returning to Mexico as coming to America. There has been a 630,000-drop to the amount of immigrants legal and illegal. Due to the economy in both the U.S. and Mexico there have been more Mexicans returning home with their families. Though Mexico was suffering from the recession like America, it has been getting better. Some of the reasons that these numbers are where they are at are due to the economics and the enforcement. Because of the recession and the job market being at a low immigrants find that it is too expensive and dangerous to even come into America. There has also been a decline in the birthrate in Mexico. In 1970, the birthrate was seven children to every woman compared to the 2.4 now. This is due to more people entering into the workforce. As families are moving back to Mexico, they are taking their entire families with them and setting up their own homes. Overall, the amount of immigrants from Mexico has changed immensely in the past 6 years due to the Mexican economy improving and America’s border enforcement improving.

References
"IMMIGRATION : ASYLUM: SOME MEMBER STATES HAVE MORE WORK TO DO THAN OTHERS." European Social Policy (2013): 334962. Global Issues In
Context. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.
"Immigrants and Immigration." Global Issues in Context Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2013. Global Issues In Context. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.
PBS Newshour. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/jan-june12/migration_04-24.html