Introduction. In Recent Decades, Migrants From Sub-Saharan

Throughout the world, there is an estimate of about 65.3 million refugees that have either been forced out of their homes or chose to willingly escape the violence or corruption they faced in their homeland. Of those millions of people, only a small percentage are given the status of refugee as many nations have strict requirements and only allow a specific amount each year. This leads to an increase in the amount of illegal immigration as many are desperate to risk their lives to for a better one then they had back home. Even as refugees are given asylum, many often face difficulties such as discrimination due to the racial stereotypes that exist as a result of negative depictions in the news and media. Although nations have generally become more open to receiving and providing aid for a significant amount of refugees seeking asylum, people’s ideology of race and the misrepresentation of the media towards immigrants prevent an even larger amount of refugees from being accepted into society.

Human migration can be influenced by various different stressors, whether it be by choice, in hopes of starting a new adventure, or by force, fleeing brutal persecution of a certain threat. Each individual has a unique story, all coming from different backgrounds and places around the world. However governing and political bodies often need certain labels and categories in order to define such a diverse set of people. Such legal definitions seem unnecessary or extensive due to the limitations they pose onto one’s identity, but they are a byproduct of sketching lines on the landscape and securing borders, protecting those who inhabit and belong.

Migration is not a new phenomenon throughout the history of human, but the issue of migration has become more of a problem since the emerging of modern states. The distinction between immigrants and local citizens has become official with the emergence of nation-state authority and the ideas of sovereignty, citizenship and nationality. From the 19th century, the control of passport and visa has made the borders between immigrants and citizens even clearer and more identified. Today, as there are more restrictions on entering a country, states have to deal with regulating policies for immigration to control the influx of people

Commentary 1: Refugees areal deadly facing an awful life and a tough screening process, but even after it is all over their lives will still be far worse than ours. They will be disrespected and have trouble socially fitting into this new

The changing environments throughout the ages have caused the movement of thousands of families out of their homelands. Whether forced to make such decisions or doing so by their own desires, all immigrants have had to survive the physical and psychological challenges encountered along the way. To speak about the experiences of all these different people using the same ideas and examples would be quite inaccurate. They all, however, had to live through similar situations and deal with similar problems. Many of them succeeded and found the better future they were looking for. Many others found only hardship and experienced the destruction of their hopes and dreams. All of them were transformed.

While it is common to hear about ‘migrants and refugees’, it is important to recognise that the two terms refer to very different groups of people. While both groups have effectively moved from one country to another, the circumstances leading up to that move are markedly different for each group.

To begin it is helpful to understand that the word “migrant” is a rather contested concept, one that changes over time, and varies depending on the criteria used to assign it.(Raghuram & Erel, 2014, p.133)

In the reading, “The Immigrant Enclave: Theory and Empirical Examples,” Alejandro Portes and Robert D. Manning primarily discusses the process that immigrants go through as they go about adapting and integrating into their new society. As the reading states, often when immigrants migrate to new societies, it is either for economic reasons as a means of achieving a better life for themselves or that of seeking political asylum as political refugees. A real world example of an immigrant enclave today is that of the thousands of Syrian refugees who emigrated to the United States and other countries in an effort to flee the Syrian civil war. During the midst of the Syrian crisis, many Syrian refugees sought

Thirteen million refugees and about 100 million immigrants have moved across borders within the last several decades (Potocky-Tripodi 2002). Global changes that have currently occured account for an unprecedented movement of individuals across the world in search of better opportunities and conditions.

From the micro-level to the macro-level globalization has transformed the world into a smaller place with constant interactions occurring at every moment between nations, institutions, groups, and individuals. And with this prevalent interconnectivity, migration between the Global North and the Global South has been a controversial consequence of this global integration (Hinojosa, 2015). For this reason one cannot ignore the importance and impact of migrant populations in the country they settle in, and in the countries of origin.

Effect: highlights the migrants’ perception of their lack of belonging in their society new society.

Valtonen (2012) defined ‘Immigrants’ as a general term referring inclusively to voluntary or regular migrants, and to involuntary migrants and the term ‘refugees’ as people who arrive in the context of involuntary or forced migration. The immigrant communities also differ in their modes of entry into the country and their legal status (Gleeson & Bloemraad, 2013). The settlement decisions of contemporary immigrants are decisively affected by the ethnic concentrations established by their compatriots in the past

I will expand later on this paper about the arenas of constraint that the author wrote about for migrant workers in the conclusion of the first chapter, as it is a topic that needs to be unpacked greatly.

Simich, Maiter and Ochocka (2009) have implemented this theoretical framework while conducting an interdisciplinary research through multiple focus groups composed of a diverse group of immigrants to understand the identity formation in their host country. As a more specific form of liminality, social liminality describes the transitional social status from their native to their host country. Due to the success of Simich, Maiter and Ochocka (2009) research I specifically use their terminology of “social liminality” and “cultural integration” to explore the Reyna Grande and Juana’s complex identity formation. Social liminality describes how immigrants perceive themselves to be in a psychologically stressful, transitional state, while cultural negotiation describes how they actively cope with cultural tensions and respond to mental health challenges. Cultural negotiation allows greater understanding of how each immigrant negotiates their integration, rather than just assume their full integration cultural negotiation acknowledges that each immigrant copes with the transitional stage differently and even though they may incorporate to some aspect of their host society they retain aspects of

As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, it is imperative to understand how societies interact and the issues they are facing. I have been interested in languages, cultures, and international affairs for many years which is why I have decided to major in Global Studies. To broaden my global perspective, I am currently participating on St. Lawrence University's Global Francophone Cultures program where I am studying abroad in Quebec, Canada; Rouen, France, and Dakar, Senegal. In addition to learning the French language, the main area of focus for this year's program is immigration. One of the courses I am taking is called, “The Age of Migration: Labor Mobility in the EU.” In this course we have read various articles on immigration, researched countries immigration policies, and are studying the economics of immigration. We