May 3, 2006
Repatriation, Again Posted by Joshua Zeitz at 02:55 PM EST Following up on Ellen Feldman’s recent post about repatriation, I think it’s fair to say that, based on the historical literature, immigrants returned home for reasons as diverse as those that originally compelled them to venture to North America, but that many of the considerations figuring into their decision to repatriate were strategic. That is, migration wasn’t always undertaken with the intent to become American. It was a rational economic move. Realizing the potential that America held out for a capital infusion in Europe, for instance, the Hungarian government initiated an “American Action” program that paid money directly to immigrant churches, newspapers, and institutions in the United States; in turn, those institutions actively promoted repatriation (and, by extension, encouraged their constituents to take their hard-earned American dollars back to Hungary). The scheme may very well have worked, as a study of one Hungarian village found that over half of all its migrants to America returned within five years. Moreover, many of those who remained in the U.S. still sank their pay into investment opportunities, mainly land and houses, in Hungary. “We’ll only stay in America and work hard until we have [enough funds for] twenty acres,” explained one early twentieth-century immigrant, “and then well go home.” One can’t help but contrast these stories with those of today’s immigrants, particularly the 11 million undocumented aliens who want nothing so much as to put down roots in the United States and become American. If we could accommodate the economic strategy of Hungarian repatriates, surely we can accommodate hardworking newcomers who want to cast their lot with us.
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