Who can be considered a refugee and an immigrant? Those who can be considered refugees are the Cubans, Chileans, or Central Americans, who had to leave due to the issues developing in their homeland. Those that are immigrants are like those interviewed in the "Los Que Se Fueron: Interview Exploring the New Migration" because they left their homeland willingly in search of better opportunities for themselves and their family as well.
While reading about the migration of Cubans to the US from the reader, I was in shock. From what I knew about the United States's relationship with Cuba, I thought that there were no Cubans in the US but I found out that millions were already living here. I knew that Americans could not go to Cuba or at least avoided going there for reason I did not know. Based on the reading I felt that only reason why they came was due to the multitude of opportunities that the US could offer only to learn that it was due to Cuban government and leader, which was Castro. The fact I did not know about how many Cubans were in the US and how they came to live here I feel is a bit concerning because it is a part of US history, so if I do not know it then how many other people do not know about it either... I believe that all parts of US history are important, whether they are good or bad. The arrival of the Cubans to the US was not a bad thing, in fact, it showed me just how much the US was willing to help those in need at the time. The US gave large amounts of money towards the resettlement of the Cubans in the US and even tried to help send them home if that is what they wanted. Not knowing things like this just shows how much classes or courses like Introduction to Latino/a Cultural Studies is needed. If it were not for this class, I do not know when I could have learned about this part of history.
However, reading about how the Chileans and those from Central America were treated by their homelands made me extremely upset and almost brought tears to my eyes. According to the reading, many of those that left were seen as "exiles" and not immigrants but in reality I see them as refugees. Due to their governments, they were afraid to return home on the grounds that they could be imprisoned or even worse murdered because they do not agree with the government. I cannot agree with this. Not everyone will agree to whatever the government thinks so does that mean that those people are threats? Does that mean that they should be thrown out of the only home they've known and be placed in a completely new place? In my opinion, NO. Despite these fears, the US tried to welcome these frightened people in with open arms. But when the government would not do anything else, the media kept all the issues regarding the Chilean refugees front and center sparking anger in the people thus causing the government to act. I can't say that I am not pleased about the turn out in that case, but I wish that the government would just keep going with its efforts instead of stopping and letting the pressure cause them to start again.
Although I cannot agree with some of the actions of the government, I can understand why it can be strict or unfair. Unfortunately with the surge of immigrants coming into the US it is hard to keep track and sometimes there can be hidden agendas or those that are entering for bad reasons. Sometimes those reasons can be considered a threat to national security, which is why measures were heightened after 9/11. It was after this event that it was necessary to see if those entering the country had a "credible fear" of being sent back.
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