: why is it wrong for someone to emigrate in search of a job to support his family?

It often goes much further than that. About 30% of the national income of Moldova is remittances from emigres. I was in the Romanian part of Moldavia this summer and it obviously worked the same way there - there were hardly any men of working age, they were all away in Hungary or Western Europe sending money back. One woman we met had not lived with her husband for 17 years, her children hardly knew who he was. She was an emotional wreck, it was a horrible situation.

Now multiply that Moldavian village a million times. The amount of money sent back home by Third World workers in First World countries is vastly greater than the amount of aid money given by governments (and on the whole it's probably better spent).

It isn't just your family, it's your whole community.