Daniels Chapter 13

Coming to America—Chapter 13: Changing the Rules Blog Entry

After reading this chapter, it was interesting to learn what the difference was between a refugee and an “asylee”.  According to Daniels, he writes, “An asylee is a person who applies for entry into the United States while already here, either legally, such as a person who came in on a student or visitor’s visa or, as has often been the case since 1980, arrived illegally” (Daniels 346). I found it interesting that an asylee still had to meet the same standards and conditions that a refugee had to meet with the exception that they were already in the United States. Also, one other interesting difference between the two is when they are counted towards the immigration statistics. A refugee appears in the statistics under the year that they arrived whereas an asylee is counted when their status is approved. This new category added to refugee did not even get added until around 1968 when the UN sought to broaden the definition of “refugee”. I thought it was interesting that when looking at Table 13.4 titled “Number of Refugees and Asylees Admitted, 1981-1985” that the number of refugees was significantly higher in every year in comparison to asylees. For example, in the year 1982, there were 93,252 refugees counted whereas there were 4,731 asylees counted in the statistics for a total of 97,983. Because the definition of an asylee is much narrower, there are far fewer individuals that fall under this category. In addition, Daniels notes, “The 1980 Act put a cap of five thousand asylees annually, although almost immediately, partially because of federal court orders, that cap was exceeded and in 1984 more than doubled” (Daniels 346). According to statistics, the actual number of asylees in 1984 was 11,627. They really did almost double the cap!! I just think it’s interesting that more asylees are not granted. Is this because people are fearful of applying and being turned away? Does the conflict/discrimination in your country have to be so great in order to just be considered? Being an asylee does not automatically make you a citizen. Just like a refugee and other immigrants, it takes five years for an asylee to be eligible for naturalization and to gain all the rights of citizenship as well as be able to bring in relatives.

I found the Mariel Crisis that began on April 21, 1980 to be most interesting. This crisis was over “the right of asylum for some 3,500 dissident Cubans in the Peruvian Embassy in Havana” (Daniels 347). Fidel Castro announced that anyone who wanted to could leave Cuba as long as they went straight to the United States. As this was announced, boats were charted from the Mariel port in Cuba to Key West and other ports along the Florida shores. Daniels notes, “In a matter of weeks some 125,000 Cubans had arrived, shattering all notions about an ‘orderly’ refugee policy” (Daniels 347). These individuals simply came in without permission and were bringing all of their relatives and friends with them. President Carter, although initially opposed to this, had to turn in favor of support to them because the situation was well publicized. After much dispute, Daniels notes, “In July 1985—more than five years after the crisis—all but about 2,500 of the Marielitos were allowed to adjust to permanent resident alien status, and in 1990 most of them would begin to be eligible to bring in family members” (Daniels 348). For the longest time, the status of these asylees was questioned and they were forced to wait in limbo because they were neither considered to be refugees or asylees. Part of the reason why they were finally granted to stay was because they were seeking political asylum from a communist leader. Meanwhile, the people of Haiti who were seeking relief from severe economic conditions were denied asylum and sent back to Haiti. It is interesting to see what distinctions are made between the right reasons to admit asylees and the wrong reasons to admit them.