West+Indian+Migration+To+the+United+States+Virgin+Islands+Demographic+Impacts+and+Socioeconomic+Consequences

This article examines the migration of “down islanders” and the growth pressures which follow its occurrence.

History: The gradual decline in commercial success of Sugar Cane on the islands led to the decrease in the population. The attempt to get workers through an immigration fund to finance the recruitment of workers led to the influx of West Indians. There were workers from Barbados, St. Eustatius, St. Barthelemy, and steady immigration from the British Virgin Islands. As the article states “These immigrants were easily absorbed into the 'native' community, the two groups of the Virgin Islands actually forming a single geographic, socioeconomic and linguistic unit, international boundaries notwithstanding.”

Additionally there was the 1930s in which the economy reversed itself with the help of the mainland: there was the repeal of Prohibition in the U.S., which consequently increased the demand for plantation workers, and the wartime decision to construct a submarine base in St. Thomas. Because of habitual out-migration to the U.S. and the historical absence of a peasant agricultural tradition (due to slavery), the indigenous labor supply was inadequate. This caused the increase in “down islander” presence and fostered part of the culture that is today. An increase in the islands being a place for vacationing and the cosmopolitan idealistic society we spoke of at the last meeting occurred.

By the 1960s the agricultural exports had almost ceased but tourism was growing. According to table 3, the number of migrant individuals working in tourism/hospitality and construction (most likely for the purpose of building up of the sites and hotels for the growing industries) was very high. Between 1960 and the late 1970s the population density was thought to have increased dramatically, due to West Indian labor the Virgin Islands have motioned toward an export and tourism based economy. The “down islanders” suffer from low economic mobility due to job and wage discrimination, low social acceptance and as a result are the most impoverished on an affluent Caribbean Island. In general the island is ethnically diverse as a result of the migrant workers but the low social status of these people illustrate a societal stratification perhaps as a result of systematic exploitation, post-colonial society or inadequate dealings with immigration of temporary workers.