“The Cold War impact on U.S. Immigration policy towards Latin

Americans”

Alba HesselrothYale-Georgetown 2009 Summer Institute

“Latin America and the Cold War”New Haven, July 10 2009

Strategic geographic position counts…

Issues and time frames to be taken into consideration

UNEMPLOYMENT FOR HISPANIC WOMEN (1988)

Source: U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment and Earnings, January 1989.

1988: Unemployment for Hispanic women compared to other groups

Patterns in unemployment for Hispanic women

1980: Education/ rate of graduation among Hispanic women 25 years and over

• One third of Mexicans and Puerto Ricans had graduated from high school in 1980.

• Cuban women surpassed their other Hispanic counterparts with a 53 % graduation rate in 1980.

EMPLOYMENT FOR WOMEN OF HISPANIC ORIGIN

Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, The Hispanic Population in the United States: March 1988

Occupations of Employed Women, by Hispanic Origin, March 1988 (Percent distribution)

Occupations of Employed Women, by Hispanic Origin, March 1988 (%: Percent distribution)

All women (white and others)

All Hispanicwomen

Mexican origin women

Puerto Rican origin women

Cuban origin women

Managerial 25.3 15.7 12.6 20.5 27.3

Service 17.7 21.7 21.9 15.3 13.0

Farming 0.9% 1.5 2.1 ------ --------

2000: Percent of Population with a Bachelor’s Degree or 2000: Percent of Population with a Bachelor’s Degree or Higher by Hispanic OriginHigher by Hispanic Origin

10.6

6.9

13

23

17.4

28.1

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Hispanic Mexican Puerto Rican Cuban Central andSouth

American

Non-HispanicWhite

Unemployment rate among Hispanics 2006/2007

Source: US Bureau Labor Statistics

April 2007: Unemployment rateSource: US Bureau Labor Statistics

• The U.S. Hispanic unemployment rate jumped to 6.9% in April from 5.5% .

• Cubans had the lowest unemployment rate which is comparable to general rates of unemployment of the total civilian labor force.

Median household income in the USA Source: http://pewhispanic.org/files/factsheets/23.pdf

Median household income in the USA Foreign-born Cubans

38,000

30,00033,000

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

40,000

Arrived before 1980

Arrived 1980-1990

Arrived in 1990 or later

Poverty rates among Hispanic people. Poverty rates for Cubans are generally lower

than for other Hispanics

National Indicators, year 2004Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey,

March 2004, Ethnic and Hispanic Statistics Branch, Population Division

• 41% of Latino households make $25,000 or less compared to 19% of Whites.

• Excluding from these data the Cuban households in Miami (a much more affluent community) the percentage of Latino households making $25,000 or less increases almost to 50%.

Cubans in the USASource: http://pewhispanic.org/files/factsheets/23.pdf

• Compared with the rest of the Hispanic population in the United States, Cubans:

- have a higher level of education - higher median household income - higher rate of home ownership.

Cubans in the USASource: http://pewhispanic.org/files/factsheets/23.pdf

• With respect to other Hispanics: As a group Cubans in the USA are distinct in many ways from the rest of the Hispanic population.

• Within the “Cuban” category:There are important differences among Cubans, particularly between those who arrived before 1980 and those who arrived in subsequent years.

PUZZLES: - WHY DO CUBANS IN THE U.S. HAVE A BETTER ECONOMIC /SOCIAL POSITION COMPARED TO OTHER HISPANIC GROUPS?

- WHY DO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES EXIST BETWEEN CUBANS THAT ARRIVED BEFORE 1980S AND THOSE THAT ARRIVED LATER?

- WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH THE COLD WAR?

1959: Cuban Revolution, turning pointFrom then onwards: 4 important migration waves

during the Castro government

• 1959- After the Castro revolution

• 1965-1973 Freedom Flights

• 1980 Mariel Boatlif

• 1989 Ongoing migration

U.S. policy towards Cubans after 1959

• Throughout all four phases, U.S. policy has been far more welcoming towards Cubans than to any other migrants from Latin America.

• Virtually all Cuban migrants have been admitted under a special parole power exercised by the U.S. Attorney General that immediately grants them full legal status and puts them on a path to U.S. citizenship.

• Currently, Cuban migrants apprehended at sea are returned to Cuba while those who are able to reach U.S. soil are allowed to stay.

1959- IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE CASTRO REVOLUTION

1959- Immediately after the Castro revolution - Elite emigration: supporters of Batista and wealthy people (white and highly educated).

1959- After the Castro revolution

• 1959: number of Cubans in the USA: 124,000

• After 1959: initial exodus, primarily wealthy Cubans

• Also upper-middle class families.

• During the early years of the revolutionary period, about 215,000 Cubans emigrated to the U.S.

• 31% of Cubans that migrated to the U.S. were professional or managers.

March 1960: Eisenhower government invokes the Mutual Security Act

• Tremendous impact:

- Recognition of Cuba as a communist state

- Cubans are thus recognized as “Exiles”

Kennedy Administration: assertive role in refugee relief efforts

• 1966: Establishment of the “Cuban Refugee Program” (CRP)• First time after World War II that the government gave

monetary assistance for refugee resettlement which included:- monthly relief checks- health services- job training*- adult educational opportunities – English classes, Professional certification*- Partial funding to Dade County Public Schools

System to help to accommodate more than 3,500 Cuban refugee children in 1961

“Operacion Pedro Pan” Peter Pan Operation. The Cuban children’s exodus

December 1960 - October 1962, more than 14,000 Cuban youths arrived alone in the US. It was the largest recorded exodus of unaccompanied minors in the Western Hemisphere

SECOND WAVE: 1965-1973 FREEDOM FLIGHTS AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

April 1965-September 1966: Freedom Flights

• 1965: Camarioca port => => State Department Sealift

• Orderly departure programs administered by the U.S and Cuban governments. Bilateral arrangement.

• Preference: familiar unification. Emigration restrictions imposed by Cuba on certain types of skilled labor and men of military age

• Two flights per day, 3,000 to 4,000 Cubans each month• Total: 3,048 flights that carried 297, 318 refugees to the U.S.

Freedom Flights

• More mixed population emigrated from Cuba to the U.S. (middle class, working class people).

• By 1970: 12% professionals or managers, 57% blue collar, service, or agricultural workers, from different parts of Cuba.

• Women overrepresented.

• Blacks underrepresented.

Late 1970s• By mid-1970s: US Cuban Refugee Program had spent

over US$957 million in resettlement, relief, and other services.

• Clandestine emigration

• 1972: reunification, 50,000 Cubans from Spain

• By September 1977, total number of Cubans that arrived to the U.S. since January 1959: 665,043

Impact of Cold War on Latino Political Mobilization and Community Organizing in the USA

- 1960s-1970s: - In California, Chicanas actively participated in the UFW, while

East Los Angeles Latina activists worked for social change, Puerto Ricans for defense of civil rights.

- Cuban women also organized: Hijas del Pueblo in New Orleans and the Junta Patriotica de Damas de Nueva York.

- Later: Union de Mujeres, the Cruzada Femenina Cubana, Movimiento Femenino Anticomunista de Cuba, Organizacion de Damas Anticomunistas Cubanas (Perez, 1986: 126-37)

1980: THE MARIEL BOATLIFT (THE HUMAN AVALANCHE)

The Mariel exodus

Precedent: late 1970s events

• 1970s: Thawing in tensions Cuba - USA.

• 1977: diplomatic relations w/ creation of “interest sections” in Washington and Havana. Cultural exchanges followed.

• 1978: over 100,000 Cuban exiles were allowed to visit families and friends in Cuba.

• 1979: The Castro government released over 4,000 political prisoners and allowed them to emigrate.

Precedent: late 1970s events• The “blue jean revolution”

- Contact between Cubans in the homeland and exiles and Americans in the U.S. had a boomerang effect.

- Many Cubans’ basic beliefs about their society and about life in the U.S. were challenged.

- Discontent increased and attempts to leave the island too.

-1979-1980: 30 Cubans smuggled themselves in Latin American embassies seeking asylum

The Peruvian incident

• April 4, 1980: 10,800 Cubans moved into the grounds of the Peruvian Embassy in Havana, after the Cuban Government guards were removed from the Peruvian Embassy.

Source: http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/mariel-exodus.htmThe Peruvian embassy incident

Two important outcomes:

• Air lift from third countries: Cubans arriving in San Jose, Costa Rica, and Madrid, Spain, shared with the world media the horrors lived while at the Embassy. This exposure generated a negative opinion for the aging Cuban Revolution.

• The Mariel migration began: Fidel Castro announced the opening of the Port of Mariel and invited Cubans in America to come to pick-up their relatives in the island.

The Mariel exodus: a chaotic, highly controversial, distinct migration

• Unilateral.

• Human avalanche, unprecedented numbers and composition:- During May: 88,817 Cubans left the island, 14,000 per week. - As of Sept. 1980: 125,000 Cubans came to the USA. - The Marielitos, came from virtually every segment of Cuban society, including the poor. Many were black.- Individuals released from jails and mental institutions by became part of the human flow that migrated to the US.

• U.S. national perceptions of the Cuban exile community were

forever altered.

The Mariel migration. Impact in Cuba

• Those that wanted to migrate were harassed by the Cuban government.

• The Mariel exodus alleviated serious internal administrative and economic problems. Cuba exported a high risk population to the U.S.

Impact on the USA• President Carter stated: "We will continue to provide an open heart and open arms to refugees seeking freedom from Communist

domination."

• Hundreds of people continued arriving in Key West and other parts of Florida. FEMA opened four refugee camps in Florida, Arkansas, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin

• opened four refugee camps in Florida, Arkansas, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin

“Marielos” in the USA• Ethnic relations deteriorated in the wake of the boatlift:

- Marielos (mainly “Black” and poor) were discriminated by other Cubans. - Anti-Cuban sentiment: African Americans rioted, voters repealed Bilingual-Bicultural Ordinance.

• Mainstream US press exaggerated on the “Crime bomb” by Fidel Castro.

• The increase of criminal activity (in Florida) was often blamed on the Mariel refugees.

“Marielos” in the USA

• As of December 26, 1981, of 163 Cubans charged an/or convicted felons housed in Dade County's main jail:- 103 or 63.9% are Mariel refugees- 11 or 6.8% are Cuban ex- political prisoners- 47 or 29.1% are Cuban-Americans. (Unzueta)

http://cuban-exile.com/doc_026-050/doc0033.html

“Marielos” in the USA• Legally, initially the individuals coming in the Mariel Flotilla were granted the new

administrative category of "entrant".

• This technicality rendered them ineligible for assistance available through the U.S. Refugee Act of 1980.

• The Fascell - Stone Amendment to the Refugee Act of 1980: special funding was authorized, in the form of cash assistance, reached the entrants during the latter part of February 1981.

http://cuban-exile.com/doc_026-050/doc0033.html

Median household income in the USA Foreign-born Cubans

38,000

30,00033,000

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

40,000

Arrived before 1980

Arrived 1980-1990

Arrived in 1990 or later

FOURTH WAVE

Two important turning points

• 1980s: Ronald Reagan elected President, the Cold War became “colder”

• 1989-1990: End of the Cold War

1980s: The Cold War gets colder

• 1984: United States allowed immigration of up to 20,000 Cubans annually. However, this was interrupted by the Cuban government due to the installation of “Radio Marti” by the Reagan administration.

• Hard foreign policy by the Reagan administration, especially regarding the Soviet Union. Soviet economy collapsed.

1990s, the Cold War is over. Cubans’ situation in the island gets worse

• After trade and special perks between Cuba and the Soviet Union were suspended, Cuba was put into a dismal economic situation.

• The Cuban government instilled a rationing system to deal with food, electricity, and gasoline shortages. The discontent continued to grow among many Cubans who desired economic and political freedom.

1994: Rafter Exodus

• 1994: Huge wave of immigrants from Cuba. Approximately 33,000 Cubans fled to the U.S.

• Due to the large wave of Cubans entering the country, the US made an agreement in September 1994 that would limit the number of incoming Cubans to 20,000 annually.

Central Americans’ Migration to the USA

Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala A tale of three migrations…, and ax extremely biased U.S. reception…

Migration Flows from Guatemala,1960s through 2005

Source: International Organization for Migration, Guatemala

Time period Number of emigrants

1960s 6,700

1970s 56,843

1981-85 84,897

1986-90 159,809

1991-94 141,755

1995-00 558,776

Total (through 2005) 1,364,546

Central American Migration

1980s Guatemalan IndigenousQ’anjob’al Maya fleeing the scorched-earth policy of Guatemalan government.

1990s-2000s

• Men have outnumbered women’s migration

Cold War mentality shaped Latin American immigration to the U.S.

• Citizens of countries who were not fleeing communist regimes tried unsuccessfully to win refugee status.

• After the 1973 revolt against the socialist government of Chile: the United States took in fewer than 1,700 Chilean refugees.

• The U.S. government also denied asylum to most of the Haitian boat people during the 1970s and deported them.

1980s, some changes but still “Cold War fever”• Prior to 1980, the U.S. limited its recognition of refugees to

those fleeing from communist governments.

• 1980: Pres. Carter signed “ The Refugee Act of 1980” that established the definitions of asylum and refugee status in line with those of the UN: as those fleeing their country from political oppression.

• However…the Cold War mentality still strongly influenced public recognition of civil war and political oppression around the world.

1980s: Central American emigration to the U.S., a tale of three countries…

• Guatemala and El Salvador lived under right-wing and dictatorial governments recognized and supported by the United States and were plagued by civil wars .

• Under Cold War mentality the U.S. was supporting the Salvadoran and Guatemalan governments from “Marxist insurgency”.

• For the U.S. government the Sandinistas government was undemocratic and Nicaraguans asking for asylum were fleeing “communist oppression.”

Huge bias: coherence as part of incoherence

• Decisions on asylum applications from Guatemala and El Salvador were rejected by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)

• For the INS they were economic migrants and not legitimate refugees fearing persecution. The fear of being killed in a civil war was not sufficient for winning refugee status.

• Few managed to emigrate as refugees. Many stayed in the U.S. as “illegals” threatened by deportation.

Coherence within Incoherence

“The Reagan administration doesn’t want to accept us as refugees because it would be admitting that the military aid it sends to El Salvador does not help, rather destroys and creates refugees. I didn’t come here because I wanted to. I had not economic need to come. I left my country because I had to.”

Salvadoran immigrant

(Cited in Maria Cristina Garcia, Seeking Refuge. Central American Migration to Mexico, the United States and Canada Univ. of California Press, 2006, 84)

Huge bias: some logic within incoherence

- Under Reagan the CIA-backed contras were trying to overthrow the Sandinista government.

- Nicaraguans fleeing to the U.S. were slightly more successful in securing asylum. Their approval rate was more than double that of their neighbors.

- In 1989: 5,092 Nicaraguans won asylum, compared with 102 Guatemalans and 443 Salvadorans.

1980s: Asylum applications from Central Americans

Sanctuaries• Unprecedented numbers of Americans became

refugee workers. Churches and synagogues proclaimed themselves "sanctuaries."

• However, many American sanctuary workers were singled out, indicted and sentenced to prison.

• U.S. prosecutors defined sanctuary workers as smugglers that used religion as a cover-up for their criminal actions .

Legal efforts: low intensity struggle• Bar association efforts to provide pro bono

representation to Salvadorans and Guatemalans.

• Throughout the decade, hundreds of individual immigration hearings

• Lawyers for asylum applicants and INS lawyers waged a low-intensity struggle over the nature of the conflict in Central America and the rights of individual Central Americans to asylum status.

ABC• In 1985 the American Baptist Church (ABC) filed a

class-action suit against the INS, on behalf of Guatemalan and Salvadoran nationals in the U.S. who had been denied asylum.

• “American Baptist Church v. Thornburgh” alleged that the U.S. government had engaged in discriminatory treatment of asylum claims made by Guatemalans and Salvadorans.

Outcomes in favor of Nicaraguans

• 1987: the Reagan Administration recognized the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua by establishing the Nicaraguan Review Program (NRP) to give Nicaraguans who had been denied asylum a second review.

1990S AND 2000S: PHYSICAL AND LEGAL EARTHQUAKES

Outcomes in favor of Guatemalans and Salvadorans

• 1991: the US government and attorneys settled the American Baptist Churches (ABC) v. Thornburgh class-action suit.

• As a result, Guatemalans and Salvadorans physically present in the US before October 1, 1990 and September 19, 1990, respectively, were granted a new interview and asylum decision, irrespective of any prior decisions on the asylum claim.

1990s: Developments Shaping Immigration from Central America . Still “Cold War” mentality.

- 1997: U.S. Congress passed the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) which included Nicaraguans, Cubans, Salvadorans and Guatemalans.

- Nicaraguans and Cubans fleeing from communist regimes received permanent residency under Section 202, while Salvadorans and Guatemalans received only cancellation of deportation and the opportunity to apply for asylum under Section 203.

Later arrangements

• An estimated 374,000 Central Americans are living in the US under Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which the attorney general granted in 1998 and 2001 after natural disasters in the region.

HOWEVER…. MATTERS OF CONCERN

Central American Migration during and after the Cold War

Significant waves of legal and illegal immigration to the United States

• 1980s: “Exodus to the U.S.” due to civil wars in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala, combined with already weak economies.

• 1990s: Economic issues

• 1998-2000s: Natural disasters Hurricane Mitch in 1998, two earthquakes in El Salvador in 2001, Hurricane Stan in 2005.

Educational Attainment of the Central American Foreign Born Population Age 25 and Older

Foreign born from Central America by Country

Central Americans foreign born, High school and college graduation rates, age 25 or older Source: US Census Bureau, Census 2000

Level of education• Of the Central American born age 25 and older, less than half have a high

school diploma.

• The foreign born from El Salvador :- the lowest high school graduation rate (34.8 %) - one of the lowest percentage of those age 25 and older with a bachelor's degree (4.9 %).

• Foreign born from Guatemala:

- one of the lowest of high school graduation (37.3 % - lowest percentage of college degree (3.0 %)

Aspects to be taken into consideration• The significance of the implosion of the

underdeveloped world into the developed world. (David Gutierrez)

• “ When [immigrants] enter the bottom of the ethnic hierarchy of drastic social inequality, the forces of assimilation come mainly from the [existing] underprivileged segment of this structure, and this is likely to result in distinct disadvantages…” (Min Zhou “Segmented Assimilation: Issues, Controversies, and Recent Research on the New Second Generation,” International Migration Review 1977:999)

Legacies of the Cold War era• U.S. economic sanctions on Cuba still in force.

• In 1992, Pres. Bush signed the Cuban Democracy Act, which tightened the embargo against Cuba.

• In 1996, Pres. Clinton signed the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act, which imposed penalties on companies doing business in Cuba. (Helms Burton Bill that imposed additional sanctions on Cuba).

• Fidel Castro remained in power for almost 50 years

Legacies of the Cold War era

1959-1989

1989 - 2008