Inequality, poverty, and climate change converge in the migration phenomenon

North America is the region that historically stands out for being one of the main recipients of migratory flows; the United States remains the world's leading destination and according to statistics from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), more than 50 million international migrants (18 percent of the global total) were in that country in 2020.

Likewise, India, as one of the most populated countries, was the main nation with the largest diasporas: 18 million people living outside their place of birth, followed by Mexico and Russia (11 million each), China (10 million), and Syria (8 million).

The specialist of the Center for Research on North America (CISAN), Estefanía Cruz Lera, states that in 2021 most of those who were forced to leave their place of origin did so for two reasons: political, war and social conflicts, as is the case of Syrians, Venezuelans and Afghans; as well as environmental, although most of them move to the interior of their own countries.

DESA points out that every year, millions of men, women, and children around the world leave their place of residence in anticipation or as a consequence of environmental stress situations: cyclones, floods, droughts, changes in rainfall patterns, and forest fires, for example, which destroy homes and property. It is to be expected "that anthropogenic climate change will have an increasing influence on migrations and other forms of mobility in response to the evolution of these risks".

The university academic emphasizes that "in the world, we have not yet reached the moment of international environmental displaced persons, but it is evident that, with the intensification of natural disasters, a consequence of climate change, they will be; this is the major concern of international organizations, and we are not prepared to receive them".

She explains that the term migrant is abstract, the classic definition refers to all those individuals who live in a place different from the one they were born and from which they were forced to leave voluntarily or forcibly, it can be mobility within a nation or outside its borders, temporarily or permanently.

On the occasion of International Migrants Day, which is commemorated on December 18, the professor at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences also explains that the legislation on refugees has a Eurocentric tendency (taking European traditions and values as universal standards) because it was approved immediately after World War II when there were exoduses that had to be protected by other nations.

In addressing the issue of refugees, she states that one component for granting asylum status is the proven fear of persecution. In the case of Latin America, there are also regional regulations. Currently, the contexts have changed and the statutes also include poverty, gang violence, even aggressions against those belonging to LGBTQ groups, whose integrity and lives are in danger in some regions.

The United Nations also refers to mixed flows, i.e. the confluence of individuals migrating for economic reasons and trafficking for sexual or labor exploitation. Inequalities and poverty converge in these phenomena. Another related issue is that of remittances. Mexicans in the United States are the leading remittance senders. The specialist explains that one out of every nine households in the world depends on these resources because they alleviate economic contradictions. Two-thirds of migrants are economic trans-territrants, fleeing because they cannot find work opportunities or are poorly paid. In the same position are the qualified expatriates, that is, the so-called brain drain or talent drain that does not find in their places of origin the conditions for their professional development.

Mexico, like those countries that reject the arrival of foreigners for considering them, among other reasons, responsible for the increase in crime or the loss of jobs, also has a double standard towards them: it recognizes the status of refugees to Venezuelans, Syrians, and Afghans, but not to Central Americans who seek to transit through our country to the United States, even some anti-immigrant attitudes have been seen in entities through which they transit, an example of this is Tijuana, a city that has received thousands of Mexican and foreign migrants, and that was formed with this migratory vein.

Given this, just like the US, the Mexican State requires a comprehensive policy to avoid the problems caused by the caravans that cross the country. In the case of the Central American exodus, "we are between a rock and a hard place because on the one hand, we do not want to assume these positions of securitization, nor deploy the National Guard to the southern border of Mexico".

She emphasizes the need to attack the root causes of this phenomenon, such as violence, poverty, and lack of job opportunities; however, this is something that will not be solved from one day to the next, so answers are required for generations, to stop these displacements. It has been insisted that the way to alleviate these contradictions in the world is to establish temporary migration agreements, for example for agricultural workers between both nations, or from Europe to Eastern and Western Europe.

Contributions

Transnational communities play an important role in taking advantage of the benefits they can bring to the economic development of the countries of origin and destination; nevertheless, "prejudices persist towards otherness, towards those who are different from me in terms of color or have different beliefs and customs in the places of reception; it is difficult for us to get used to diversity".

In the case of the United States, migrant workers are great entrepreneurs, there are numerous companies, even now transnational, originally founded by them. Lacking the advantages enjoyed by residents, they are more creative and innovative. In short, they contribute a great deal to their places of destination; in the case of Europe, they help to solve the imbalance in that region, due to the aging population and the low birth rate.

There is an idea that the American Union receives the largest number of migrants, perhaps in absolute terms. In reality, 80 percent of the population of the United Arab Emirates is made up of migrants; a highly restrictive Muslim country with one of the best economic situations, where it is possible to build diverse communities and maintain their customs, contrary to what happens in Mexico and the neighboring country, where our anti-immigrant position does not allow us to open our arms to welcome people in that condition", concludes Cruz Lera.