Jacob Goffstein DB3

I think the common explanations for people migrating to the United States are well known by us all. Usually it’s something along the lines of something they lacked in their home country that is available here. This can be reasons like increased opportunity, increased quality in life, family, etc. This is definitely a theme that is prevalent in media such as films and books, but I have also personally met immigrants or family members of immigrants who have testified them to be true. One movie I remember seeing, ‘The Good Lie’, was about several people who emigrated from a refugee camp in Africa after a civil war. The person I interviewed told me her mother’s family migrated to the United States due to a war happening where they are from. 

This definitely aligns with the foundation of Yang’s theory, the part he calls push and pull. There obviously needs to be some sort of incentive for people to move their whole lives to a new country – something different about the two countries. I met a chinese student in BMCC who told me he came to America because of more available education, as he wasn’t able to get into college in China. This is just another example of one of the many  possible push-pull factors that Yang mentions – accessibility of education. 

For the most part, I think Yang devised a pretty solid theory that fully explains the conditions that lead to immigration. The push-pull serves as the foundation and motivator, but then there still needs to be some sort of bridge between the two countries. Something that may often be overlooked, he’s also right in pointing out that there can be many social relationships that are factors in causing someone to immigrate.