immigration vs. migration

In the first chapter, people coming from Europe to the "New World" are defined as migrants rather then immigrants. Their voyage is classified as migration instead of immigration because; although people are coming from Europe to America, America's national frontier is yet to be established. Therefore, workers are not crossing borders, just migrating to new land. This is significant because an immigrants attitude is different from that of a migrant. It seems migrant workers have an advantage. An immigrant may have citizenship issues or problems adapting to the new system. The author chose to define people coming from Europe to the new world as migrants to better define the struggles experienced by the group.