Caribbean Migration to the USA

1
Caribbean Migration to the USA

• Caribbean and the Migration Imperative
• US Immigration Policy (1900-post 1965)
• Socio-Economic Contributions of Caribbean
  Immigrants

2
Caribbean and the Migration Imperative

• The Caribbean as a Diaspora
• Post-slavery migration and the the US dollar
• - Panama Canal (approx. 130, 000
• workers 1904-14)
• - agricultural labor (Cuba, DR, Costa Rica,
• Honduras)
• Caribbean migration to Britain (230,000-280,000
  1951-1961)

3
Patrick Buchanan on US Immigration Policy (1991)

• I think God made all people good, but if we
• had to take a million immigrants in, say Zulus
• next year, or Englishmen, and put them in
• Virginia, what group would be easier to
• assimilate and would cause less problems for
• the people of Virginia? (This Week with David
• Brinkley,ABC-TV)

4
Caribbean Migration to the US 1900-1924

• Steady increase in immigrants from less than
  1,000 in 1899 to over 12,000 by 1924
• Motivated by economic reasons (push factors)
• Belonged largely to the Caribbean middle-class
• Most went to northern cities, esp. NYC
• Paralleled by movement of African Americans out
  of the South.

5
US Immigration Policies Quotas of the 1920s

• In 1921, a per-country cap was set at 3 of
  foreign-born persons of a given nationality
  living in the US as of 1910
• limited the world visa quota to 350,000
• In 1924, the National Origins Act reduced cap to
  2 of foreign-born persons living in the US in
  1890
• Reduced worldwide quota to 175,000, giving
  preference to Western European migration

6
Caribbean Migration to the US 1924-1960

• Caribbean immigrants leaving exceeded those
  arriving during this period
• Immigrants were mainly family members(children
  and spouses) joining families and students on
  visas
• 1952 McCarran-Walter Act
• Cuban refugees 1959-1961 over 100,000

7
Caribbean Migration to the US 1965-present

• 1965 Hart Cellar Immigration Reform Act
• Eliminated national quota system and set uniform
  country quotas of 20,000
• Prioritized family reunification over education
  and skill
• Economic and political contributions to the US

8
Black Diversity in Metropolitan America
(Washington Post, March 2003)