"South to South" Immigration

One of the most interesting aspects of my reasearch is the exploration of what is deemed "south to south" migration. Often overlooked, this term is given to immigration from poor countries to only slightly less poor countries. Too often, immigration is solely associated with those fleeing third world countries to higly developed areas like the United States. However, this is not so; there are currently 74 million "south to south" migrants struggling internationally. This type of immigration increases the chances of abuse tenfold, because developing countries give immigrants much less legal protection. Perhaps this is one of the fundamental contributors to our flawed immigration system: the world only concentrates on immigration to developed countries.


A New York Times article specifically discusses south to south immigration as it concernes Haitian immigrants to the Dominican Republic. Since rich countries like the U.S. are tightening their immigration policies more and more, immigration between the third world has been increasing tenfold. However, developing countries like the Domincan Republic have less resources and political stability to create suitable immigration policies. Therefore, it is evident that problems with immigration policy in wealthy countries have created a snowball effect of problems that reaches every country in the developing world.



image: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/27/world/americas/27migration.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1