South Asian Migration Since 1945
Before 1945 the South Asian immigrant population was small. After World War two immigration increased substantially. The Indian students came to study different science courses in the United States. These students undertook studies in science, medicine, business, and engineering, and they became the core node of the immigration network (Brown et al., 26). These students who came to the United States formed a basis for the immigration network that led to increasing Indian populations in the United States. Since 1970, Indians make top ten communities that migrate to the United States.
The Indians immigrate to the United States for employment and a better life. The study has shown that since 1970, the number of Indian immigrants has increased steadily. Thus migration from end accelerated well between 1965 and 1990. The elimination of national-origin quotas led to the introduction of skilled worker visas. By 2016, Indians topped the receipts of the United States H-1B temporary visas, and the second largest international students in the country today consists of Indians (Brown et al., 35). The majority of the Indians in the United States are young, highly literate, and work in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math). Thus, empire theory explains the reason for the immigration of the Indian community to the States. India has borrowed Western technology and has invested heavily in it, thus creating low wages and payment in these fields. Thus, the top brains are living in the country to go and work abroad. Also, the core countries introduced their political, military, economic, and cultural systems that only benefit the core countries (Brown et al, 40). For instance, Indian engineers and medics left their country to offer their services to the United States while their country had underdeveloped infrastructure and treatment facilities.
Mexican Migration Since 1945
In the 1940s, during wartime, the American workforce was absorbed by the wartime industries. This led the US’s policies towards the Mexican government to change. Thus, the United States and Mexico governments created a policy called braceros (Angelucci, 225). The program was created by the United States to address the labor market in the economy. The braceros (laborers) were paid low wages and worked in hardship conditions the American market workforce was unwilling to accept. The Braceros were treated badly in some states, and even the Mexican Government decided not to send more laborers to Texas. The program continued to exist until 1964. The braceros worked for the use farmers. Under this program, it is estimated more than 5 million Mexicans came to the United States, and a substantial number of these Mexican migrants stayed ((Angelucci, 227). In the same period, the USA started the deportation campaign on a larger scale. The deportation led to the deportation of a substantial number of Mexicans to Mexico. Since then, there have been increasing numbers of undocumented immigrants from Mexican communities to the United States. Using the empire theory and cultural imperialism concept can explain the major cause of migrations. The Mexicans migrated to the United States in search of employment opportunities, better education, and better healthcare. Thus, the United States was interested in low-wage laborers from Mexico, thus exploiting labor from Mexican immigrants.
Comparison and Contrast between the Migration of South Asians and Mexicans:
Both South Asian and Mexican communities migrated in search of a better education to the United States. Political instability and economic instability among these communities’ host countries led some individuals to migrate to search for a better education system. The core countries imposed these countries with their education systems, but the host countries did not have enough experience to manage these systems. For instance, Indians have come to undertake scientific studies in medicine, engineering, and technology. Also, South Asians and Mexicans migrated to such employment opportunities. The Mexican communities migrated under the braceros program. The braceros program was an initiative between the American and Mexican governments that allowed Mexicans to come to work in the United States. The Mexicans offered cheap labor, which suited the American farmers as well. They were willing to work under hardship programs, whereas Indians also came in search of employment. Therefore, both communities migrated to the United States in search of good opportunities and better lives due to their country’s perpetual state of underdevelopment (Gonzalez, 12).
The South Asian community immigrants were allowed on the basis that they could offer skilled labor. The Indians who entered to migrate to the United States must have skills and techniques of skilled labor. Meanwhile, Mexican immigrants offered unskilled labor and were allowed to do so since they could offer cheap labor. Thus, the contrast is that the Asians offered skilled labor while the Mexicans offered unskilled labor. For instance, The Indians in the United States majority are young, highly literate, and work in STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and Math) fields, while the Mexican immigrants’ majority work a casual labor force (Tindall, 2016). The majority of the Indian immigrants came to undertake studies, while the majority of the Mexican community came for employment reasons.
Works Cited
Angelucci, Manuela. “Migration and financial constraints: Evidence from Mexico.” Review of Economics and Statistics97.1 (2015): 224-228.
Brown, Judith M., and Rosemary Foot, eds. Migration: the Asian experience. Springer, 2016.
Gonzalez, Gilbert G. Guest workers or colonized labor?: Mexican labor migration to the United States. Routledge, 2015.
Tindall, George Brown, and David E. Shi. America: A narrative history. WW Norton & Company, 2016.
