In France, Immigrant Offspring Return to Ancestral Homelands (What France can Teach the USA)

Wall Street Journal ^ | MAY 22, 2009 | SEBASTIAN MOFFETT

[GOPGuide]

Nawal El Kahlaoui grew up near Paris as the daughter of a mechanic who left Morocco to seek a better life in France. But after finishing her university studies here, Ms. Kahlaoui moved back to Morocco to find work.

"I love Morocco, as the country gave me a chance," says the 35-year-old retail consultant in Casablanca. "It's a land of opportunity."

A growing number of well-educated French people of immigrant backgrounds are returning to their parents' homelands. There are no official figures on the number of "returnees," and government officials, scholars and employment agencies say the number is small. Still, this gradual U-turn reflects a relative decline in the desirability of life in parts of Europe, compared with some developing countries.

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Now that France is in recession, the first jobs to go are often those filled by minorities.

Most of the French "returnees" are of Moroccan background, according to people who have studied the phenomenon, though there is also a trickle to other former French colonies, such as Algeria and Vietnam. In 2002, Rabat set up a "Ministry for the Overseas Moroccan Community," to encourage émigrés to return and invest their skills in their native land.

Morocco is also becoming more open and prosperous. Overhauls under King Mohammad VI, who ascended to the throne in 1999, have improved freedom of expression and women's rights. In addition, the country has formed free-trade agreements with the U.S. and the European Union. The economy expanded at an average of more than 4% from 2000 to 2008, and even this year is expected to post growth higher than that. While a large number of rural poor keep Morocco relatively low in international measures of economic prosperity, city life can be good for better-off residents.

[GOPGuide]

Morocco is also becoming more open and prosperous.

How do we make Mexico more prosperous so that the anchor babies can eventually leave for the motherland?

[Will88]

A growing number of well-educated French people of immigrant backgrounds are returning to their parents' homelands.

I bet. Can we get a percentage on that? I doubt even 5% are returning. And how many new ones are coming to France? This is just the sort of story open borders advocates like to throw out as if the movement of people really isn't the 99.9999% one way that it practically is in reality.

A few months back we had stories of more and more Mexicans returning to Mexico due to the poor economy. They could document a couple of hundred, and of course, thousands of new illegals were still streaming across the borders each week.