Immigrants from Eritrea - Essay Example

22 May Assignment Immigration occurs when the nationals of one country cross over to a foreign nation with a view to settle there permanently; this involves that they become nationals of the new territory that they are now part of however the process is tough because legally it is extremely tough to immigrate from one country to another. Immigrants may be both legal and illegal; some undergo the proper process of moving elsewhere however others might not have a home to live in and thus cross the border illegally in order to find a place to stay or escape from the lives that they have been leading in that country. Immigrants flee their countries because of the oppression and lack of opportunities that they are presented with; this is one of the main reasons as they might not be happy with the government or the ruling party and not being able to get anything substantial out of their lives. Thus they feel that in order for their families, children and future generations to lead a better lifestyle, they can start afresh in another country. There are various terms to describe the different kinds of immigrants; an economic immigrant is that which flees one country in search of a job opportunity somewhere – in order to make a livelihood and produce and give back to the society. A refugee on the other hand maybe an individual suffering a persecution and flees the country of his nationality in order to avoid that – he may do so due to the pressure on him and his family or the lack of financial resources to support himself and may feel that his family can live a better life somewhere else rather than die in the territory where they have been living. The definition of a refugee according to the Convention of the United Nations is “a person who is outside his/her country of nationality or habitual residence; has a well-founded fear of persecution because of his/her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion; and is unable or unwilling to avail himself/herself of the protection of that country, or to return there, for fear of persecution.” In a different country, people are able to gain different perks from the manner in which the government has been existing there. They may adjust their lifestyles to a better form of government, gain access to education and health resources and in this fashion, lead a happier and more fulfilling life. Other reasons for immigration might be relocating families due to natural disasters, re-unifying with families living elsewhere, and political reasons or social reasons like poverty. According to immigration statistics, Eritrea, in Africa, has till date had a large outflow of refugees, almost 377,000 people with an inflow of only about 4,100 refugees into the country. The worst problem that immigrants face is not being able to settle their lives in the new country – even though they might have relocated to a better place, it is tough to find a job and emerge out of the socially deprived state of affairs, especially for an illegal immigrant. Even if the immigrants have the skill to work, they would have to produce proper documentation in order to be able to sign contracts and be part of legal proceedings in a proper workplace. However, since they are not able to produce these, they mostly tend to get into illegal forms of working like drug and human trafficking; they are used as servants in homes and paid meagre amounts of money, just enough to get them by with minimum food and shelter. Immigrants consist of both men and women and out of the two, the women face a much higher risk of not being able to survive especially as illegal immigrants; this is because of the gender disparity created between the two on a social and political level. Socially speaking, women immigrants may be sold to others as slaves or workers in people’s homes in order to earn their daily bread and thus are at the receiving end of improper treatment and even sexual abuse many a times. Men on the other hand, are better equipped to get jobs especially where menial labour is required. Women are not as strong as men either, giving them yet another setback. Most immigrants take up jobs relating to either agriculture or clothing for example working in sweatshops and workshops for big brands and companies around the world; they take up work that is often outsourced. They produce either crops to be sold in the market by working on the plantations, harvesting, tending and nourishing the crops or producing garments, shoes, ancillary parts of automobiles and other heavy capital products that require a large amount of labour but are paid very less. On the other hand, immigrants that are legal have a better opportunity at getting work; they may apply in offices and companies according to the level of education that they have received and have a better opportunities at earning money in a more congenial manner. In many countries, there are even provisions for immigrants as reservations in the education as well as career fields in order to offer them an equal chance at excelling and becoming a part of the community. In the book Nickel and Dimed, the author talks about the social issues that face the working class section of society; she stresses on the majority of the labour population that is unskilled and has to provide physical labour in order to earn money. This class of people are often exploited and paid extremely less for the kind of work that they do, thus facing social exclusion from all of society. It must be further understood that when such a class belongs to a different race altogether, from another country (as an immigrant), it will be treated even worse from the rest of society because they technically are outsiders and will not be accepted as easily. Written by Steven Roberts, From Every End of This Earth is a book that talks about a real account of the escape of two young men from Vietnam to Thailand with the hopes of living a better life and providing their children with a much better chance to survive and make something of themselves. The two men grew accustomed to their new ways of life however they never felt at home even once; they were always scared of being found out and driven out of their communities for being immigrants; furthermore, they could never adapt to the new American way of living that everyone was adapting to in their vicinity. “We don't belong to Vietnam; we belong to America, but inside there is something that is not really American,” said one of the men to the author, Roberts. Immigrants thus feel displaced in foreign countries and as much as they try to make themselves feel at home, it is not possible because of their social surroundings.  “Every immigrant faces the pain of dislocation, of missing home, of living in two worlds and never feeling completely comfortable in either one,” writes Steven Roberts. Immigrants lead some of the worst forms of life and at the same time it is not possible to help them prosper if they are illegal because the government cannot be held answerable for every individual that has taken up habitation without it consent within a country; the government allots spaces for those immigrants who need to be relocated due to natural disasters or reuniting with their families and mentioned earlier, or those that will bring about immense productivity in the country and not carry on any illegal work for which the country might gain ill repute. There have been many cases of people simply flocking up and harping on the resources meant for very few – something that is difficult to control. Thus another obstacle that immigrants face is access to resources in a country, especially where they are in hiding from the government. This was seen in large numbers during the times of war as people often fled to other countries in search of solace and peace and thus lived off by siphoning the resources they could find in that foreign country. In conclusion, immigrants are often loathed by a large section of society because they may be skilled or unskilled with respect to labour and tend to thus take over the jobs that the country’s nationals would have otherwise been a part of. Furthermore, they belong to a different community, may speak a different language, and may be of a different race altogether and thus are ousted from society till they can slowly make their way in, which requires a long time. Immigrations thus takes place almost all around the world and since it is tough to get the same done legally, it is mostly illegal in nature and immigrant groups tend to form their own communities in foreign countries, and after a while when they grow in number, they make their own demands in front of the government. These however is not right because they take up space, jobs, and are treated terribly doing the worst of jobs, and need to be taken care of by the foreign government without giving it any prior information about their whereabouts. Works Cited "Eritrean Immigration Data, Statistics, Facts and Figures." NationMaster.com. NationMaster. Web. 22 May 2012. . "Why Do Immigrants Leave Their Country and Come Here and Set up Shop Trying to Make HERE----There ?" Why Do Immigrants Leave Their Country and Come Here and Set up Shop Trying to Make HERE----There ? Web. 22 May 2012. . Burri, Lance. "“Why Do Immigrants Leave Their Country? Because They Don’t Have Opportunity…because Politicians Control Everything.”." The Troglopundit. Web. 22 May 2012. . Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed: On (not) Getting by in America. New York: Metropolitan, 2001. Print. Roberts, Steven. From Every End of This Earth. Print. Read More