There are four important factors that cause international migration flows: economic pressures; social networks and connections between migrant sending and receiving countries; immigrant admissions and immigration control policies; and cultural perceptions

Immigration and Ethnic Relations in the U. S Overview The United s is commonly tagged as the world’s premium nation of immigrants (Tsuda, . The country records immigrants from all over the world including Asia, Africa and Latin America. Whereas some of the immigrants are legal residence, others are illegal immigrants. For example in a report by Hoefer, Rytina, Baker (2011), on illegal immigrants in the United States, it was reported that “ the number of unauthorized immigrants living in the United States in January 2010 was 10. 8 million.” Be it legal or illegal, people migrant to the United States for a number of reasons. Some of the commonest reasons that can be attributed to the high rate of migration to the United States include economic pressures; social networks immigrant admissions and cultural perceptions. The rate of immigration to the United States has created a phenomenon of immigration and ethnic relations in the country since there continue to be an ever growing rate of ethnic difference in the United States.
Immigrants – Living up the dream
One interesting thing is that citizens of the United States keep complaining about basic economic pressures such as lack of jobs. However, there are a junk of people out there who believe that traveling to the United States would help them cut down on their economic pressures. To most of these people who come from countries were the dollar rate is very high, whatever little they earn is sufficient to send back home. The fact however remains that it is not every immigrant who experiences economic relief in the United States. On social networks, United States will remain one of the friendliest countries where people easily get access to by virtue of social networks, programs and organizations. Because there are formidable governmental and non-governmental organizations, most of these immigrants achieve their aims. United States is also reported to have some of the world’s best Universities and Colleges (American Association for Higher Education & Accreditation, 2011). Because of this, immigrants who come to the United States for academic purposes are never disappointed. With cultural perceptions, the least said about its fulfillment the better. This is because the vast ethnic diversity in the United States allows for an all inclusive cultural perception and practice.
Ethnic Diversity and its Impact
Bean (2005) posits that “ over the past few decades the inflow of overseas migrants has transformed the United States from a largely biracial society to a multi-ethnic society.” Presently, there are the White Americans, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans in the United States. This is not to count the large numbers of immigrants with different ethnic backgrounds in the United States. This situation of ethnic diversity has three major benefits or impacts for the nation. First and foremost, it widens the human capital base for the nation’s job market and industry. Because of the diversity, there barely is a position that does not have a suitable applicant to fill. This situation is true from domestic jobs to the highest seats of government. Secondly, the country benefits from a very large market base. Because of the ethnic and cultural diversity, everything produced in the United States has buyers and suitable consumers. Indeed, the United States market is a world market in itself because it has every kind of person there to purchase what the nation produces. Finally, there is the benefit of the United States gaining global diplomatic recognition in the face of almost all governments in the world. This is like the saying that says “ hand go, hand come”. Every other government would want to show good diplomatic ties to the United States because they have their own citizens in that land who must be treated well. These not withstanding, it is worth that United States takes security cautions against its rate of migration especially those that have to do with unauthorized immigrants as they pose serious security threat.
Conclusion
As long as international relations and legal laws permit, there will continue to be large numbers of people trouping to the United Sates day in and out. It is therefore important that the United Sates continue to position herself an immigration friendly nation so that it will continue to enjoy the purported friend of the world accolade given to her. As this is being said, it is also advised strongly that in the wake of terrorism and enmity against the fundamental beliefs and principles of the country, it becomes extremely cautious in ensuring that its leniency is not taken to be its weakness.
REFERENCE LIST
American Association for Higher Education & Accreditation. Overview. 2011. Web. September 20, 2011 Bean, F. D. Immigration and racial/ethnic relations in the United States. 2005. Web. September 20, 2011 Hoefer M., Rytina N., and Baker B. C. Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: January 2010. 2011. Web. September 20, 2011. Tsuda, Takeyuki. Immigration and Ethnic Relations in the U. S. 2011. Web. September 20, 2011.