Minarets in Switzerland

How does Europe understand and deal with its immigrants, particularly those from the Middle East?  A November 29^th New York Times article sheds light on this question, detailing a recent, controversial vote by the Swiss on a proposal to ban the construction of new minarets in their country. According to the right-wing Swiss politicians backing the proposal, the building of minarets signifies an Islamization of their country, suggesting the growth of Islam as a salient political force.  Contrast the building of minarets, the recreation of a cultural artifact to assist in the coalescence of geographically-displaced communities, with that of Islamic neo-fundamentalism—i.e., Al Qaeda, etc.—a real threat.   These latter, according to theorist Olivier Roy, on the other hand, are unconcerned with such domestic affairs.  The actions of these Swiss politicians, beyond intolerant, is myopic.   Islamic fundamentalists do not seek to cement their relationships to their adopted homelands by grounding their religious practices in mosques and minarets; rather, their behavior reflects a “deterritorialisation of Islam,” in which their network spreads beyond, and without reference to the nation-state.  The misguided parochialism of the conservative Swiss politicians is surely the wrong way to deal with Muslim immigrants.  If the Swiss allow people to cross their national borders, then they must be willing to permit the concomitant entry of culture (religion), whether it wholly aligns with theirs or not.  Tolerance is a two-way street and while Islam represents many things to people—some good, some bad—, banning minarets is more discriminatory than secularist.

“Foreigners in their place of birth”

La Opinión reports that France is deporting French-born children of undocumented immigrants (in Spanish). This is a legal maneuver because, unlike in the United States, children born in France to foreign nationals are not given French citizenship automatically. Children who are born to foreign nationals in France and who live in France until the age of majority may apply for French citizenship. A 2005 presidential decree ordered the deportation of the children of undocumented immigrants and such deportations have been happening since then. These deportations have instilled fear in many families across the country.

Reverse remittances

In a recent posting on Schott’s Vocab, Ben Schott of the New York Times describes the phenomenon of “reverse remittances,” in which, according to one bank in Chiapas, Mexican immigrants to the U.S., beset by unemployment, are receiving more money from their families in Mexico than they are sending home.  Although the figures for these reverse remittances, likely attributable to the current economic downturn, are small in comparison to remittance totals, this shift in financial flows highlights an interesting dimension of the relationship between developed and developing countries and the tension between holding ties to one’s homeland while establishing new roots.  A more in-depth discussion of the subject of reverse remittances can be found in an old post at the World Bank’s “People Move” blog.

Latinos and Asians an “economic powerhouse” in Pennsylvania

KJ at ImmigrationProf Blog summarized a new report from the Immigration Policy Center that says that Latino and Asian immigrants and their American-born children are an “economic powerhouse” in Pennsylvania. The report emphasizes the economic contributions that these groups have made in the state and their increasing significance in the political arena. The report also attempts to dispel the idea that undocumented immigrants are hurting the state economy. The authors point out that undocumented immigrants only make up 1.5% of the workforce and also that, despite their numbers, they make significant contributions to the state. A Pennsylvania without undocumented immigrants, the authors claim, would lose $2.3 billion in economic output.

In other news today:

• The LA Times reports that the federal government’s immigrant detention centers do not meet the standards set by the government itself and are routinely denying rights to detainees.
• BusinessWeek reports that many skilled immigrants are either returning home or going to other countries in search of better employment opportunities. The strict regulations of visa programs such as the H-1B visa program for highly-skilled temporary workers can make it difficult for these immigrants to change jobs or start their own businesses.

For more news updates, follow us on Twitter @swatmigration.

San Francisco’s Hispanic immigrant restaurateurs retool to weather recession

Betty Bastidas of San Francisco local news web site Mission Local reports that restaurants catering to Hispanic immigrants are floundering as their traditional customer base can no longer afford to eat out as often. The economic downturn has hit immigrant laborers hard; the unemployment rate for immigrants is significantly higher than the national average, as the Los Angeles Times reported in April. In order to make it through the recession, restaurant owners are trying to attract more non-Hispanic customers. They are translating their menus to English, relying on web sites like Yelp for word-of-mouth advertisement, and posting prominent English-language signs for special deals on dishes popular with “anglos.”

Other recent migration features:

• The Los Angeles Times reports that drug traffickers are increasingly using points on the US-Mexico border that are popular crossing points for undocumented migrants, making the journey even more difficult and dangerous.
• Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper features one of the first Bhutanese refugee families to arrive in Canada. Over the next five years, the Canadian government seeks to resettle 900 Nepali-speaking refugees, who had been pushed out by the Bhutanese government into camps in Nepal, in southern British Columbia.
• Spanish newspaper El País reports that asylum applications in Argentina have risen by 142% between 2006 and 2008, mostly due to an increase in the number of asylum-seekers from African countries arriving in the country (article in Spanish). Senegalese are the largest group of asylum-seekers in Argentina, followed by Colombians. Many asylum-seekers have also arrived from Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and the Ivory Coast. According to the article, some African asylum-seekers plan to transit through Argentina to third countries.

Latino-majority LA suburb suffers in current economic climate

The LA Times featured my hometown of El Monte, California in an article today about how the economic downturn is leading to a reversal of small fortunes and an upswing in gang violence.

Hyphen blog readers write own immigration stories

Asian-American magazine Hyphen’s blog asked readers to blog about their own immigration stories or the stories of their parents. 17 bloggers responded with 300-word stories about how transnational migration and culture shock affect family relationships and personal identities.

UN, World Bank devote annual development reports to geography and migration

In what may be a sign of an increasing awareness of the (long-standing) relevance of geographical factors relating to world poverty, hunger, and political and economic development, among other global concerns, both the United Nations and the World Bank have dedicated their respective 2009 annual development reports to the theme of geography.

While the official publication date of the United Nations’ 2009 Human Development Report is October 2009, the U.N. has provided an early synopsis of the report’s contents.  Entitled “Human Development on the Move,” the 2009 report will focus on the role of migration in global human development outcomes.  “The starting point” of the report “is that the global distribution of capabilities is extraordinarily unequal, and that this is a major driver for movement of people.” Defining the thrust of the report further they write, “migration can expand their choices– in terms of incomes, accessing services and participation, for example – but the opportunities open to people vary from those who are best endowed to those with limited skills and assets. These underlying inequalities, which can be compounded by policy distortions, will be a theme of the report.”

While discussing a somewhat narrower theme, relating geography firstly to economic, rather than human, development issues, the World Bank’s 2009 World Development Report entitled, “Reshaping Economic Geography,” is an interesting companion read to the HDR.  The report suggests that “economic integration” is the linchpin to achieving widespread economic development; while they predict that “economic growth will be unbalanced,” a policy of “economic integration,” they believe, will promote positive growth via “agglomeration economies” such that “people who start their lives far away from economic opportunity can benefit from the growing concentration of wealth in a few places.” To achieve this goal, they argue that governments should emphasize “institutions that unify all places and put in place infrastructure that connects some places to others.”

As the WDR rightly notes, “migration results from forces that ‘pull’ as well as those that ‘push’ individuals to leave.” While global economic competitiveness can be pursued as one goal, true success in the domain of development will not be achieved unless individual wants—education, health, hunger—are addressed first.  Governments should see the benefits in flourishing local (and less-dense) economies and should protect and enhance the way of life of the small and medium-sized village, rather than indiscriminately encourage the growth of megalopolises.

A day in the life of an “immigration fixer”

The New York Times’ Bits blog features Christine Doyle, the immigration specialist for Google who was mentioned in Sunday’s article on foreign-born tech industry workers. The post details a typical Monday on the job for Doyle, who helps Google’s foreign-born employees navigate complex immigration laws. She also helps them confront the emotional challenges that arise when visa problems separate families and put jobs on the line.

International student profile: Hena Choi ‘11

Hena Choi '11

This is our first installment in a series of interviews with Swarthmore international students. We hope to showcase the international student experience and explore the reasons why students leave their home countries to come to study in the United States.

Hena Choi ‘11 was born in Seoul, South Korea. In this interview, she discussed her reasons for coming to study in the United States, the surprises of her Swarthmore experience, and where she sees herself after graduation.

SMP: What was your main reason in choosing to go to school in the United States?

Hena: If I went to a college in Korea, my major would have been set at the moment I entered college. I wanted something pretty different, where I could get a liberal arts education, find more interests that I haven’t really seen before. That’s my main reason for coming to the States. Also, my high school was a specialized program, so most kids in my school went to the United States, or the UK, or other countries to study.

SMP: When did you make the decision to study outside of South Korea?

Hena: Actually at the time I was entering high school I wasn’t thinking about going to the States, but a lot of people were going to the States, and I heard a lot of good stories from the people who went to the States. I met a lot of them, and they talked about their experiences here, and then I became really attracted to the idea of coming to the States. So, I think I began thinking about going to the United States around 10th grade.

SMP: What was the biggest challenge of applying as an international student?

Hena: I feel that the biggest problem was that because of the geographic distance, I couldn’t actually visit the colleges. All the information I depended on came from books, or conversations with people studying in the states, even talking to people through instant messaging. I wanted to visit Swarthmore before coming here but I couldn’t, so that was the biggest problem.

SMP: What do you think motivates international students to study outside of their home country?

Hena: I think the reason is different for each person. It really depends. At least for my friends, a lot of them already had an international background. For example, more than half of the population of my high school, they’ve lived in foreign countries before coming to high school, so they were used to a very diverse environment compared to the environment they grew up in. Korean universities would be pretty homogeneous, so I think they wanted something different, something where they could meet more people, get exposed to new cultures.

SMP: Why do you think there is such a strong presence of international students at Swarthmore from South Korea?

Hena: I feel like it’s a trend, because there are a few high schools that are considered to be really good, and consistently send a lot of students to good colleges in the States, and foreign countries, and it’s really competitive to get into those high schools. People think it’s a route, they think that if they go to those high schools, they’re going to go abroad. So I think it’s a trend.

SMP: Do you see yourself pursuing your professional career in South Korea or staying abroad?

Hena: I’m currently thinking a lot about that issue. It really depends on how things work out. I mean, I might work in a completely new country, like somewhere in Latin America or Europe. I can’t really say about that now.

SMP: Do you feel like South Korean international students tend to return to South Korea after their studies or stay abroad?

Hena: I think it’s really different depending on your major, but at least among my friends, like people who did engineering, they tend to stay in the States, and it tends to be related to visa problems, as well, the easiness of getting a visa. For guys, because they have to do military service, they have to go back to Korea for a while.

SMP: What surprised you when you first came to the United States?

Hena: Actually, before coming here, I was expecting too much cultural shock, so that I wasn’t really shocked [when I got here]. One of the main things that really surprised me was, I came here by shuttle, as soon as I got to Swarthmore, and that was my first time at Swat. As soon as I got off the shuttle, I met some Swatties who were trying to help me, and the first question they asked me was, “Hey, can I help you?” No one says that in Korea unless they know you, no one says “hi.” I was kind of suspicious at first. It was like a culture shock to me. There were a few small things that were new to me, like people eating in class, bringing yogurt to class and eating. That was considered to be blasphemy in Korea, if you bring something to class and eat it, your teachers would get really mad at you. Now I’m eating yogurt and cereal and everything in class, it’s an adjustment!

Photo courtesy of Hena Choi.