What is to be done with regard to immigrant controversies (voluntary and/or forced),

sovereign borders, and potential economic and political destabilization? Do include in

your discussion how trade and finance, poverty and development are related factors,
along with health, and the potential for nationalism – as you see fit.

The first matter we need to look into is what exactly is the issue with the immigrant
controversies: the issue concerns mainly the illegal type of immigration i.e. undocumented
immigration. It refers to the people that enter one country unlawfully, enter fake marriages
or stay in a given country longer than what they are permitted to. Here the opinions
whether this action is good or bad come up to a conflict. Some truly believe that this type of
immigration is stimulating the economy, due to the fact that those immigrants are willing to
work for a very low wage, benefiting for the minimization of the labor scarcity. On the other
hand, many are those who believe that this is actually illegal and can be looked at as a
crime.
If we speak about the USA, there were two recent policies regarding this issue, that
were thought to be controversial. As we all know, the Obama’s DACA policy, which intended
to allow immigrants brought illegally to the States, before the age of 16, to work for a term
of 2 years (which was a subject of extension) in order to avoid deportation. There were
certain conditions under which a person could apply. On paper this sounded quite the
solution, but when President Trump was elected, he announced the cancelation of the
project. The other policy was the Trump’s one, where every illegal immigrant was to be
under a federal prosecution.
Having in mind Europe, this side of the Atlantic never had huge struggles with
immigration flows. But in 2015, when there were more than 1 million Syrian refugees
coming into the European countries. This led to an enormous political crisis, due to the fact
that the countries were struggling to cope with the amount of people arriving within their
borders. To resolve the issue the EU passed a policy in 2016 and started to donate to
countries outside of the union in order to maintain normal levels of immigration and
redirecting the refugees to those countries under the new EU aid.
Migrants are being pushed out of their home countries due to deteriorating
economic conditions and growing income inequality and being drawn to destination
countries in order to receive higher wages, better medical and educational facilities. In most
migration flows from low-income countries to high-income countries, both incentives and
attractions play a significant role. Economic factors such as income variability, taxation,
insurance, exchange rates, and not-so-economic factors such as the migrant network in the
host society and inclusive policies contribute to economic migration. Restrictive immigration
policies, the cost of migration, and complex political and environmental conditions can act
as barriers to migration.
The most important detail we need to throw light on is that before any changes are
presented on a national and government level, there are other methods, which could be
implemented to help prevent migration. The international society should expand endeavors
to battle poverty in the countries from which there is proven to be extensive immigration
and to strengthen human security, since the lack of work as well as armed conflicts, are the
most continuous reason for migration.
Regarding what policy should be applied to regulating migration in European
countries, the numerous examples lead to the conclusion that, before all, a government
should direct its efforts to making its own people`s lives comfortable and safe. By shifting
attention to immigration integration policies, most European governments risk to become
witness of abrupt increase in nationalist tendencies. If a flow of immigrants is to be
accepted by a country, governments of the receiving states should operate programs that
help migrants to become part of the community by teaching them the language, traditions
and culture of the state, they arrive in.
As it has been stated above, ideas of multiculturalism have failed numerous times.
Governments of receiving countries should thoroughly work on developing the terms and
rules of accepting immigrants with the well-being of their own citizens as a priority.
Economically, immigrants` working force might be beneficial to a country, however, the
cultural and religious differences should not be ignored. As I have mentioned before, most
of the conflict situations caused by immigrants’ stem from the difference in religion. The
vast majority of the “newcomers” refuse to accept and live along by their receiving
government`s political and cultural order and this causes a division between immigrants and
the native population.
International migration is a reflection of growing global inequality in terms of wages,
professional opportunities and lifestyles. There is a debate about whether migration
reduces inequality or contributes even more to inequality in sending countries. But there is
no doubt that inequality is the main motivator for people to move across borders in an
effort to reduce what they perceive as the gap between their own situation and that of
people in higher-income countries. Moreover, inequality within countries is growing almost
everywhere. Multilateralism is an essential tool for reducing inequality, both between and
within countries. International law and the system of global economic governance need to
be adjusted to stop the growing inequality in the world and limit the international migration
flow.
In conclusion I would say that no government or country should be forced to accept
immigrants if this is sure to result in a dissatisfied society and a doubt in the government`s
ability to protects its own citizens. In addition, recognition of the rights of migrants and the
need for the promotion and protection of these rights should be regulated by each state on
its own, but however a binding treaty to prevent many of the controversies around
migration can be useful in order to avoid conflicts regarding the immigrants. Right now,
there is no far reaching lawful instrument at the universal level that builds up a system for
the governance of migration. Some guidelines – which have been made through state-to-
state relations, or non-restricting instruments have become part of customary international
law.