History Analytical essay

Immigration Through the Turn of the 21st Century

Week 6

Agenda ➢ Lecture: “Immigration Through the Turn of the 21st Century”

○ Caribbean Immigration ■ Cubans ■ Dominicans ■ Haitians

○ Central America ○ New Legislation at End of 20th Century

■ Refugee Act 1980 ■ Mariel Crisis ■ Immigration reform

Cubans ➢ 1959

○ Fidel Castro came to power ○ Small exodus to US

➢ 1960 ○ 80,000 foreign-born Cubans in US ○ 40,000 second generation

➢ 1959-1962 150,000 Cubans immigrated to US

➢ 1962-1965 30,000 Cubans immigrated to US ➢ LBJ signed “memorandum of understanding”

1965 ○ 250,000 entered between 1965-1973

➢ 1959-1990 ~800,000 Cuban refugees entered US

➢ About half settled in Florida ➢ Black Cubans underrepresented in immigrants

○ 72% of Cuban population white ○ 90% of Cuban immigrants white

➢ Cuban Refugee Program cost $1.4 billion (~$2,000 per refugee)

➢ Many saw themselves as refugees

Dominicans ➢ 1966-1980 ~250,000

immigrated to US ➢ 1966-1976 1 million + entered

on tourist visas ➢ Worked in low-paying industries ➢ Generally settled in Dominican

neighborhoods in urban areas such as New York City

➢ Migratory

Haitians ➢ Haiti in 1980s

○ Spoke French ○ Poorest nation in

Western Hemisphere ○ Low life expectancy (30s) ○ 90% of rural Haitians

lived below poverty line ➢ 19th & 20th centuries, Haiti

faced perpetual misrule ➢ By 1980, 88% of the 92,000

Haitians in US had come after 1965

➢ Generally unwelcome ○ Long term detention ○ Coast Guard & Navy

acted as interception

Immigrants from Central America ➢ 158,000 in US in 1980

○ 64,000 Guatemalans ○ 94,000 Salvadorans ○ 88% came after 1965

➢ 204,000 applied for amnesty in 1986 ○ 138,000 Salvadorans ○ 51,000 Guatemalans ○ 15,000 Nicaraguans

➢ Three Refugee Categories ○ Political Exiles ○ Urban ○ Peasants

➢ Harsh treatment from US

Refugee Act, 1980 ➢ Increase annual number

of refugees to 50,000 ○ President can raise

with consultation of president

Number of Refugees & Asylees Admitted Year Refugees Asylees Total

1981 155,291 1,175 156,466

1982 93,252 4,731 97,983

1983 57,064 8,333 65,397

1984 67,750 11,627 79,377

1985 62,477 6,514 68,991

Total 435,834 32,380 468,214

Roger Daniels, Coming to America, 1990

Revised UN Refugee Definition, 1968 “...any person who is outside any country of his nationality or in the case of any person having no nationality, is outside of any country in which he last habitually resided, and who is unable or unwilling to return to, and is unable or unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country because of persecution, or a well-founded fear of persecution, on account of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.”

Mariel Crisis, 1980 ➢ Carter & Castro administrations ➢ Immediately tested new law, began April

12, 1980 ➢ Dispute of asylum for 3,500 dissident

Cubans at Peruvian Embassy in Havana ➢ US made agreement to accept ➢ Number of Cuban exiles increased

dramatically ➢ 125,000 Cubans arrived within a few

weeks ➢ Carter gave mixed messages

○ First stern warnings ○ Then “open heart and open arms”

➢ Limited public support ➢ Haiti

○ Cuban-Haitian Entrants, not refugees or asylees

Immigration Reform Act, 1986

Senator Alan Simpson (R-Wyoming) “A substantial proportion of these new persons and their descendants do not assimilate satisfactorily into our society… [They] create well in America some of the same social, political, and economic problems that exist in countries from which they have chosen to depart. Furthermore, if language and cultural separation rise above a certain level, the unity and political stability of our nation will - in time - be seriously eroded.”

Immigration Reform Act, 1986 ➢ Amnesty

○ Formal application to INS ○ 1.7 million applications accepted in first

year ○ Within 2.5 years, amnesty recipients had to

file & successfully apply for permanent residence

Applicants for Amnesty 1986-1988

Roger Daniels, Coming to America, 1990

Immigration Reform Act, 1986 ➢ Amnesty

○ Formal application to INS ○ 1.7 million applications accepted in first

year ○ Within 2.5 years, amnesty recipients had to

file & successfully apply for permanent residence

➢ Employers Verify Eligibility of Newly Hired Employees ○ Reinforced need for documentation

➢ Special provisions for agriculture ➢ Unintentionally encouraged immigrants to

stay in US for fear that they would be unable to return

Opposition to Immigration Reform