But perhaps family reunification has been far more dominant that I knew or Congress expected. I know an immigration lawyer; I should ask if he know anything about that.
Yes, I'd be interested in hearing what he has to say. My understanding is that there has been quite a lot of immigration via family reunification:
Family reunification in the United States is the most common legal basis for immigration to the United States, and it is governed by the terms of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended.
Lawyers tend to be detail-oriented, and he's particularly so, but as far as I could get him to focus on the general pattern, the fact that the closest relatives of citizens are admitted without any quota at all drives the numbers. The category of spouses, unmarried minor children, and parents of U.S. citizen adults is unlimited. The remainder of immigrant visas for other categories seems to be between 1/4 and 1/2 million per year. Since the number of naturalizations runs over 1 million per year, the majority of immigration is "chain immigration".
So it looks like essentially unlimited chain immigration, combined with cheapening travel and the motivations of distance and economic disparity, determine the overall pattern.
This reminds me of an article in the Globe a few days ago. Some fellow from Gambia (IIRC) drowned when a boat capsized crossing the Mediterranean. So his brother back in Gambia immediately started preparing to make the trip. It seems that it's understood in Gambia that every family needs one young man to get to Europe, presumably to send money back home. The Globe blamed it all on "desperation", but really the driver is high disparity in income between countries -- and the absence of a government in Libya that can be bribed to stop Africans from getting on boats.
Since the number of naturalizations runs over 1 million per year, the majority of immigration is "chain immigration".
Yeah, that's pretty much what I figured.
really the driver is high disparity in income between countries
It's been said that the best way to reduce emigration from a given place is to make it rich, and the best way to reduce immigration into a place is to make it poor.
Perhaps this was the secret plan behind the Leave campaign. :)
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(no subject)
Date: 2016-06-01 11:53 pm (UTC)Yes, I'd be interested in hearing what he has to say. My understanding is that there has been quite a lot of immigration via family reunification:(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_reunification#Family_reunification_in_the_United_States)
(no subject)
Date: 2016-06-23 02:35 am (UTC)So it looks like essentially unlimited chain immigration, combined with cheapening travel and the motivations of distance and economic disparity, determine the overall pattern.
This reminds me of an article in the Globe a few days ago. Some fellow from Gambia (IIRC) drowned when a boat capsized crossing the Mediterranean. So his brother back in Gambia immediately started preparing to make the trip. It seems that it's understood in Gambia that every family needs one young man to get to Europe, presumably to send money back home. The Globe blamed it all on "desperation", but really the driver is high disparity in income between countries -- and the absence of a government in Libya that can be bribed to stop Africans from getting on boats.
(no subject)
Date: 2016-07-02 12:46 am (UTC)Yeah, that's pretty much what I figured.
really the driver is high disparity in income between countries
It's been said that the best way to reduce emigration from a given place is to make it rich, and the best way to reduce immigration into a place is to make it poor.
Perhaps this was the secret plan behind the Leave campaign. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2016-07-02 02:13 am (UTC)Snurk!