From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmigrantmi‧grant /ˈmaɪɡrənt/ ●○○ AWL noun [countable] 1 TRAVELsomeone who goes to live in another area or country, especially in order to find work → emigrant, immigrantmigrant worker/labourer A lot of factory work is done by migrant workers.economic migrant (=someone who goes to live in another country because they are likely to find a better job there)2 HBAHBBa bird or animal that travels regularly from one part of the world to anotherCOLLOCATIONSmigrant + NOUNa migrant workerThe strawberries are picked by migrant workers.migrant labourer British English, migrant laborer American EnglishThe centre houses 50 migrant labourers.migrant labour British English, migrant labor American English (=work done by migrants)Many farms rely on migrant labour.a migrant population (=the migrants who live in a particular place)The town has a large migrant population.the flow of migrants (=the movement of people to or from a place)the increasing flow of migrants into Californiaan influx of migrants (=the arrival of people in a particular place)The growth of towns was due to an influx of migrants from the villages.adjectivesan illegal migrantThousands of illegal migrants were caught trying to cross the sea to England.an economic migrant (=someone who goes to another country to find a better job)They are economic migrants, escaping terrible poverty in their home country.a rural migrant (=someone who moves from a country area to a city)Rural migrants end up in the slums of Brasilia.a new/recent migrantSome of the recent migrants have returned to their homes as the fighting finished.verbsa migrant comes from/to a placeA majority of the migrants had come from this region.attract migrants (=make migrants want to come to a place)The settlement attracted new migrants and it expanded quickly.
Examples from the Corpus
migrant• 400 migrants won the right to stay in the country yesterday, after a ten-year battle.• Many of the city's poorest residents are migrants from rural areas.• And this economy persists to a substantial degree, courtesy of both the climate and exploitable migrant and illegal-alien labor.• Some had barracks and medical centres for migrants.• Their rank-and-file soon settled down abroad like most non-ideological migrants transferring their revolutionary energies to the anti-slavery campaign.• Perpetual migrants, they have had to find new housing for their center several times.• Time to be looking for summer migrants.• You see, often there is no food left for the local herds after the migrants go through.• The vast majority of these migrants stayed broadly within the science, maths and engineering fields.• Historically, California has welcomed migrants from other states and nations.economic migrant• In general their requests for asylum are rejected on the grounds that they are simply economic migrants.• The economic migrant is also the political refugee.• I have no problem with economic migrants.From Longman Business Dictionarymigrantmi‧grant /ˈmaɪgrənt/ noun [countable] someone who goes to another area or country, especially in order to find workThe work is usually done by low-paid migrant workers.a system to regulate migrant labor in California 