A comparative study of Turkish and Mexican Transnational Migration Outcomes: Facilitating or restricting immigrant integration?

Ibrahim Sirkeci, European Business School London
Jeffrey H. Cohen, Ohio State University

Abstract

Transnational migration is often framed as a “new” phenomenon in the literature on international migration and human movement. Unlike labor or refugee flows of the past, transnational flows are characterized by their circularity, frequency, and the ease with which migrants are able to move between sending and receiving communities. But what is the reality of transnationalism, and do transnational flows create new opportunities and foster integration or do these flows reproduce inequalities and facilitate the formation of ethnic-enclaves or ghettos? In this paper, we compare and contrast Mexicans from the southern state of Oaxaca who are moving to the U.S. with Turkish Kurds moving to Germany. Our goal is to build a more realistic model of transnational movement and transnational outcomes with reference to the question of immigrant integration.