Migration on Development Reflection

Migration on Development Reflection

Reflection on The Impact of Migration on Development

The issue of migration has become more complex in the contemporary days to the extent of giving rise to major tensions between both the sending and destination countries. Migration has various impacts on development witnessed in the economic, social, political and cultural spheres. In the economic sense, migration enables growth in either the sending or receiving countries. Socially, migration leads to the adoption of new social trends, especially in the sending countries. For instance, migration contributes to major family breakups which adversely affect societies (Garza, 2013). Culturally, “migrants learn and often internalize new cultural values of the receiving countries, which they then transmit to their communities of origin” (Garza, 2013). Politically, migrations have major contributions in the ongoing political crisis in the sending or receiving nations. Citizens in other countries may miss out in major political rights such as voting.Critically, migration is both advantageous and disadvantageous to both the sending and receiving nations. In my opinion, the sending nations are more disadvantaged. Migration, mostly, reaps the sending nations their elite which adversely affects their development. There is a need to set up policies, especially in the sending countries, that maximize the advantages of migration and mitigate its disadvantages. Such policies should be situated around making the emigrants more active in their home countries. The receiving nations also need to limit the rates of migration, particularly the undocumented ones, to curb the occurrence of negative impacts such as terrorism and illegal trade activities. Nations have much to gain from migration only if they implement the necessary measures. Restructuring the policies around migration will also help ease the tensions that are building up between various nations globally.

Reference

Garza, R. O. (2013). The Impact of Migration on Development: Explicating The Role of the State. In J. Cortina, & E. Ochoa-Reza (Eds.), New Perspectives on International Migration And Development. New York: Columbia University Press.