Internal migration

Internal migration is human migration within one geopolitical entity, usually a nation-state. Reasons for internal migration tend to be different from those for cross-border migration; whereas the latter often occurs primarily for political or economic reasons, reasons for internal migration prominently include travel for education and for economic, but not for political, reasons. A general trend of movement from rural to urban areas has also produced a form of internal migration, leading to rapid urbanization in many countries.

The history of many countries has seen massive internal migration:

A subtype of internal migration is the migration of immigrant groups—often called secondary or onward migration. Secondary migration is also used to refer to the migration of immigrants within the European Union.

In the United States, the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a program of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services's Administration for Children and Families, is tasked with managing the secondary migration of resettled refugees. However, there is little information on secondary migration and associated programmatic structural changes. Secondary migration has be hypothesized as one of the driving forces behind the distribution of resettled refugees in the United States.

Somalis, a refugee group that was initially widely dispersed in the United States, has formed significant communities in Minnesota, Ohio, and Washington. Secondary migration to Minneapolis, Minnesota and Columbus, Ohio, has made those two areas first and second, respectively, in Somali American population. Geographer Tamara Mott states that being near family, friends, and other Somalis was the main reason Somalis migrated to Columbus, OH.

Lewiston, Maine, became a secondary migration destination for Somalis after social service agencies relocated a few families there in February 2001. From 1982 to 2000, resettlement agencies placed refugees, including 315 Somalis, in the Portland, Maine area. High rates of rental housing occupancy in Portland caused the first relocations to Lewiston. Somalis have a history of nomadism and maintain contact, often via cell phone, with a large network of extended family, clan members, and friends. More Somalis learned about Lewiston and were attracted by the quality of life there, the low housing costs, good schools, safety and greater social control of their children in the smaller town. Between February 2001 and August 2002 over 1,000 Somalis moved to Lewiston. Most of these early secondary migrants came from Clarkston, Georgia, a suburb just outside Atlanta. By 2007, Somalis were 6.5% of the population of Lewiston and had come to the city from all over the United States and at least three other countries.

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