Undocumented in North America
How we view migrants in a country often comes down more to perception than reality.
Created by Ghada El Ghraoui | Linda Grochalova | Alexander Quiñones
The word “migration” has appeared several times in the news recently alongside the word “crisis.” The connotation is undoubtedly negative. In a 2016 poll, 61 percent of Americans believed that “continued immigration into the country jeopardizes the United States.” The reality about the migration in a given country often matters little or is often warped. In a speech at the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change on July 27, 2016, former United Nations Director of Communication Edward Mortimer presented data showing that people in several first-world countries tend to perceive the percentage of immigrants in their country to be higher than the actual figure. Examining the data in the issue of migration along the U.S.-Mexico border will likely surprise many.
According to a Wall Street Journal article, the migration of Mexicans to the United States has been falling consistently. Mark Hugo Lopez, director of Pew’s Hispanic research, was quoted as saying: “Mexican migration to the U.S. has been one of the world’s great migration stories, and this data shows it has come to an end.” Data from 2009 to 2014, shows Asians now represent the only rising immigrant population. The total Mexican immigrant population in the U.S. decreased from 12.8 million in 2007 to 11.7 million in 2014. The contrast with American migration into Mexico is even more stark. While Mexican migration to the U.S. has been declining, American immigrants now comprise three-fourths of the documented immigrants in Mexico, according to government data from both countries. On the whole, Americans have added more to Mexico’s population than Mexicans have added to the U.S. population.
This short animation not only dispels the myth that the Mexican immigration population in the U.S. is rising, but it also highlights the disparity of how immigrants are treated in different countries. An undocumented immigrant in the United States can expect to encounter hostility from authorities, while the laws concerning undocumented immigration into Mexico have become more lax. According to a Washington Post article, the laws that do remain are applied unfairly, with authorities looking the other way when it comes to Americans living illegally in Mexico.
As the data above shows stereotypes about immigrants persist despite readily available information to the contrary. Depending on the perspective, what some would call “immigrants” others would consider “expats.” This simple case of labeling can reinforce negative perceptions about migrants. While a bar that caters to immigrant population may be considered to be low-income, one that attracts expats has a certain cachet about it. As this project shows, how we view migrants in a country often comes down more to perception than reality.
This story was created by a team of students at the 2016 Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change. It exists as part of a digital publication called MOVE which aims to educate readers on the social, political, and cultural impacts of global migration. All stories published in MOVE were created at the 2016 Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change by students and faculty from around the world.
