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Cubans in America: Push and Pull Factors of Immigration

Document 7

Vocabulary

Dissent: Expression of disagreement, opposition to government policies.
Imperviousness: Not receptive to argument or sensitive to the views of others.
Scarcity: Shortage.
Crucially: Very important.
Emigres: Those forced to leave their country for political reasons.

… Cuban Immigration to the United States
… In 1959, an estimated 124,000 Cubans were living in the United States. In the early years of the revolutionary government, an additional 215,000 moved here, and now the Cuban community is well over a million. As we mentioned above, the center of that community is in Miami, but there are sizable communities in other cities in Florida and in New York, Illinois, and California as well.

The existence and size of the Cuban community in the United States is a result of both "push" and "pull" factors. The revolutionary government's inflexible attitude toward dissent, and its imperviousness to demands that dissenters make, probably constitute the greatest push factors: Cubans who are unhappy have had no reason to believe that they can effect changes in their lives. Another strong push factor for the recent wave of newcomers is the economic situation and scarcity of crucially necessary goods like medicine.

The "pull" factor has been the United States' policy with regard to Cuban emigres, which has effectively been, until recently, an unqualified welcome for both documented (Cubans entering the United States through normal immigration procedures, including legal departure from Cuba) and undocumented (Cubans arriving in the United States without immigrant visas, who have usually left Cuba illegally). Until 1985, there was no quota for Cubans entering the United States via normal immigration procedures, as there was for other immigrant groups. ...

Document 7: Excerpt from Refugee Fact Sheet Series No. 12, The Cubans, written by Barbara Robson, Refugee Service Center. 1996. Entire text available online at http://www.cal.org/co/cubans/CONT.htm

Document 7 Short-Answer Questions

1. How many Cubans lived in the U.S. in 1959?
2. How many Cubans immigrated in the early years after Castro's revolution in 1959?
3. Although many Cubans live in Miami, Florida, what other states have large communities of Cubans?
4. What two "push factors" does the author of the document talk about?
5. According to the author, what has been the "pull factor" for Cuban immigration to the U.S.?

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