Module 5 - Immigration and Migration Patterns
Immigration always seems to be one of the biggest talking points of U.S. politics. This can make one wonder if immigration is as much of a conversation starter in Europe as it is in America. Based on statistics, I would say that it is not. Connor, Passel & Krogstad, (2019), found that in 2017, the population of unauthorized immigrants in Europe was less than half of that in the United States. The sheer number of unauthorized immigrants can help determine if immigration is seen as an issue – it seems as though in the U.S. immigration is a larger issue because unauthorized immigrants make up a larger portion of the population. In fact, 3% of the United States’ population was unauthorized immigrants in 2017, compared to only 1% of Europe’s (larger) population (Connor, Passel & Krogstad, 2019).
In terms of migration patterns, the U.S. and Europe differ even further. While in both places many unauthorized immigrants simply crossed borders without permission, the reason behind their border hopping was a tad different. A big share of Europe’s unauthorized immigrants are asylum-seekers; some of America’s are also asylum-seekers, but a majority are people coming from Mexico and South America, likely just looking for a better life for their family (Connor, Passel & Krogstad, 2019). Furthermore, the immigrants’ country of origin differs as well. In the U.S. about 80% of the unauthorized immigrants came from the Americas, whereas in Europe, no region accounted for more than one-third of their unauthorized immigrants – this is likely a proximity issue, as there are more countries near and within Europe than the U.S. (Connor, Passel & Krogstad, 2019).
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