Immigration - a Complex Issue

...

Post-nationalistic identities or not, there are still several problems which accompany the movement of scores of people. Most namely among these problems is a phenomenon know as “Brain Drain,” defined by countries losing their highly skilled and highly needed workers as a result of migration. The opposite of this happens in countries to which these people emigrate, a term known as “Brain Gain.” Brain Drain as a phenomenon does have a silver lining, however, as many of these skilled workers often send remittances (money) to their families in their home nations. Adamou then presents an interesting conundrum; remittances often make up a relatively large percent of the GDP of countries suffering Brain Drain, but these countries often lose essential workers such as doctors and engineers which lead to negative effects. However, countries which lose people to immigration are not the only nations which are affected by immigration, as there is often political repercussions in the countries to which people travel. These issues often involve job logistics, national security, state sovereignty, multiculturalistic policies, and language barriers. Although this sounds like there would be no benefit to the countries which open their doors to immigration, Adamou then goes on to talk about the myriad of advantages which migration might have, how we might learn from these people, and how we might utilize their human potential.

Adamou then ends on a bittersweet note, acknowledging the problems that we face and those that we will continue to face. She declares what some of the objectives of modern governments should be and that there ought to be an inter-governmental conference on the challenges, benefits, causes, and effects of migration as it is not an issue related only to one or two countries, but to the entire world.

Works Cited

1: Mavrikos-Adamou, T. Introduction to Migration Studies [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from Lecture Notes Online Web site: http://hofstra.blackboard.edu