Top 10 Migration Issues of 2010
Top 10 Migration Issues of 2010
In major migration developments in 2010, the year began with major internal population displacement resulting from a devastating earthquake in Haiti and ended with Greece's call to Frontex for help on the Greek-Turkish border. During the months in between, Arizona's crackdown on illegal immigration and elections in Europe were among the significant developments of the year on migration. These topics, plus the latest on how the Great Recession affected migrants around the world, are all covered in the Top 10 Migration Issues of 2010.
The writing was on the wall by late 2009, but 2010 confirmed the migration trends glimpsed months earlier in major immigrant-receiving countries: the global recession that began in late 2007 caused migration flows to drop, halting rapid immigrant population growth, and it pushed unemployment levels for some immigrants far higher than those of the native born.
Arizona's simmering frustration with the federal immigration system—which has failed to stop illegal immigration through Arizona's border with Mexico — officially boiled over when the state legislature passed and Governor Jan Brewer signed SB 1070 in April 2010.
There's no getting around the fact that integrating immigrants costs money. That explains why recession-battered European countries, as well as a number of U.S. states, made cuts to programs affecting immigrants in 2009 and again in 2010.
A number of events in 2010 across the continent, and particularly in places long seen as moderate, seem to indicate a larger shift away from openness.
Anyone who expected 2010 would bring comprehensive immigration reform did not account for the Obama administration's priorities of passing health-care reform and improving the economy—essentially the same issues that guided the president in 2009.
The worst is over, but the outlook remains grim. This seemed to be the general storyline for economic activity in developed countries during 2010 and is largely true for remittance flows as well.
Although non-Irish nationals, particularly those from Eastern Europe, led the exodus, Irish nationals now make up a sizeable proportion of those leaving, and Greece appears poised to become a net exporter of people as well.
In these lean times, countries still want the talent — key to their long-term competitiveness — but a handful want more assurance they're getting the cream of the cream, as well as skills they don't have already.
When there's a will, there's a way — migrants seeking illegal entry have proven the old proverb true countless times as they and their smugglers have adapted to enforcement strategies. The latest development in the cat-and-mouse game comes not from the United States, but from Europe.
Haiti and Pakistan were an unlikely pair until 2010, when horrific natural disasters made it impossible for the world to ignore their devastation.
