Top Migration Stories of 2013

If you look along the side of this blog post, you will see the number of postings associated with each chapter of my text. Migration has the highest number, at least at this moment. This is obviously an important demographic issue, and so it is very interesting to see what the Migration Information Source of the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, DC. thinks are its biggest migration stories of the year. Here are the top ten:

• No. 1: The Changing Face of International Migration: Flows Are Increasingly Fluid, Diverse, and Unconventional

• No. 2: Recognizing Their Evolving Migration Roles, Emerging Economies Overhaul Their Immigration Systems

• No. 3: The Golden Visa: "Selling Citizenship" to Investors

• No. 4: The Escalating Syrian Refugee Crisis Challenges the International Community's Ability to Respond

• No. 5: Is Europe Faltering in Addressing its Multiple Migration Challenges?

• No. 6: Faced with a Growing Global Talent Pool, Governments Review their Strategies

• No. 7: As Bill to Overhaul US Immigration System Stalls in Congress, Immigration Reform Movement Broadens, Ups the Ante

• No. 8: Questions of Immigration Control Preoccupy Policymakers Worldwide as Mixed Flows of Arrivals Continue, and in Some Cases, Surge

• No. 9: Greece Confronts Golden Dawn As the Far Right Takes Aim at the European Union

• No. 10: Qatar's Treatment of Migrant Workers Is under the Spotlight ahead of 2022 FIFA World Cup

The first one is especially interesting because it delves into the increasing complexity of migration in the modern world. As I read it, though, I immediately thought of Doug Massey's "Perverse Laws of International Migration," especially these two:

1. Immigrants understand immigration better than politicians and academicians.

2. Because they understand immigration better than policy makers, immigrants are often able to circumvent policies aimed at stopping them.

Just when we think we understand what's happening out there, migrants come up with something new...