Melting Pot Mix Or Mosaic Piece Multiculturalism And Immigration Control

Download or read book Melting Pot Mix Or Mosaic Piece? Multiculturalism and Immigration Control written by Lana S. Mobydeen and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Convergence hypothesis argues that there is a growing similarity among industrialized, labor-importing countries in terms of immigration control policy and integration policy (Hollifield, Martin and Orrenius 2014). This hypothesis also applies in the context of refugee policies that are enacted among these countries. Specifically, two of the most prominent industrialized countries that are built as nations of immigrants and that host refugees are the United States and Canada. Following the logic of convergence hypothesis, the United States and Canada should be similar with regard to immigration control and integration policies. However, Canada is considered an outlier with regard to convergence hypothesis. Convergence hypothesis was descriptive of immigration control in the form of racial exclusion in both countries until 1971 with Canada's adoption of a federal multiculturalism policy. This study tests the convergence hypothesis in the areas of immigration control and integration policies from the United States and Canada by examining policy adoption documents using qualitative content analysis from 1971-2019. The data shows there is a difference in both the inclusivity or exclusivity of the language used by the United States and Canada with regard to refugee policies as well as the frequency of their occurrence. The Canadian turn to multiculturalism was positively associated with more inclusive legislation when examining immigration and refugee policy documents while the United States was more inclusionary with regard to refugee policy. The study also finds there is a clear and definite association between adoption of multiculturalism by Canada and its divergence to being more inclusionary than the United States with regard to refugee resettlement and integration policy. These findings confirm that the adoption of multiculturalism as being associated with Canada's outlier status with regard to convergence hypothesis and demonstrates that industrialized nations can have their own identity with regard to issues surrounding immigration. The results herein can help assist policy makers that are looking to understand the implications of enactment of multiculturalism on state policy.