Migrants and Asylum Seekers: Policy Responses in the United States to Immigrants and Refugees from Central America and the Caribbean
Author(s)
McBride, Michael J.
Abstract
Although the 1990s have witnessed unprecedented immigration and refugee flows, many receiving countries in the West, including the US, have begun to apply more restrictionist policies as a result of perceived threats to their economies and cultural homogeneity. US immigrant policy has generally responded to economic concerns and domestic pressures, while US refugee policy has reflected foreign policy concerns, especially the desire to embarrass communist systems during the Cold War. These policies have resulted in extensive immigration from Mexico and large numbers of refugees from Cuba and Nicaragua, but limited acceptance of asylum seekers from Haiti, El Salvador and Guatemala. Since US policy results from a complex matrix of actors including the President, executive branch departments, Congress, the courts, state governors and legislatures and numerous interest groups, and is heavily influenced by perceptions of the American public, any attempt to modify these policies will require an extensive outreach programme on the part of UNHCR and other interested organizations. In addition, US policy makers must be encouraged to integrate immigration and refugee policy into its overall long-term planning and to participate in efforts at regional cooperation (such as the Puebla process) in order to address the complex problems raised by current and future migration and refugee flows and ensure a more consistent and more humane response to the needs of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers.
