Refugees or Economic Immigrants

While reading “Refugees or Economic Immigrants? Immigration from Latin America and the Politics of US Refugee Policy” by María Cristina García I was brought back to our reading of “(Re)constructing Latinidad: The Challenge of Latina/o Studies” by Frances R. Aparicio and his discussion of the intersections of different social, and class status in the Latinx community and how this affects how a Latinx is treated and classified in the United States. What caught my attention the most in my reading of García’s essay is how it presents the United State’s manipulation of Latinx immigration through a preference of Latinx with higher socioeconomic status for their own self interest.

The massive waves of cuban immigration to the United States began in 1959. The cuban upper class left first and were enthusiastically welcomed into the country with one of the largest displays of financial and social assistance the United States has ever shown to refugees. But the last wave of cuban immigrants that were part of the 1980 Mariel Boatlift were shown the complete opposite treatment. The boatlift  was occupied by who the cuban government considered “undesirables,” which the United States treated as just that, in that they were not granted refugee asylum. although only a small percentage of these people were felons, “they commanded a disproportionate amount of media attention.” This last wave of cubans were seen by most Americans as “troublemakers...taking the place of worthier immigrants.” But who are these more worthier immigrants? Through their differing handling of cuban immigrants of contrasting financial status at this time, the United States has shown that the answer to this question is people of higher socioeconomic backgrounds. This obvious demonstration of classism can once again be proved in how “The majority of Central Americans did not qualify for asylum in the United States” because the Reagan Administration believed “migrants were economically rather than politically motivated, and thus were not true refugees.”