Reflection 14

Immigration is an extremely touchy topic for all Americans. Many people believe that immigration is the cause for many of America’s problems. I hear people say all the time: these damn immigrants are taking all the jobs. I also felt this way for a time when I was looking for a job and for mostly every job you had to be bilingual. I felt a lot of frustration during that time but it was mainly because I didn’t have a job. I also know many people feel that immigration is a good thing because immigrants take many jobs that Americans would never do. I feel that immigration has its positives and its negatives. I also realize now that because the area I live as a great concentration of Spanish speaking residences and that why speaking Spanish in Miami is important.
This article was an extremely important read. It gave you a better understanding of the wet foot dry foot policy. I thought this policy was put in place simply because of racism and prejudice. I was happy to learn some history about this policy. I didn’t realize that the people who fled the country were loyal to the leader who came before Castro. I also was not aware of the mass exodus from Cuba to America. I also was unaware of the conditions of Haiti. When we had a discussion in class on the condition of Haiti I learned a lot. I was always told that Haiti was in the current condition that it was in because of the Government. I still agree with this to a great extinct but I also know it is not the Government alone. I had no idea that foreign companies where stripping Haiti of its resources and selling the product back to Haiti for extremely more than what it is worth. Also I have learned from this article that the Haitian people had Aristide ousted out of the country and the events that followed were horrific. When the U.N. stepped in, it only made the situation worse. They cut off funds and gas to Haiti in an attempt to weaken the rebel militia. This did not work and in fact it had an even worse affect. The militia did not suffer but the Haitian people suffered. They were starved and abused by the militia. When the Haitian people tried to seek asylum from the U.S. they had to go to an office for help which was virtually nonexistent. If this was done they would be recognized to the militia and life put in more danger than it already was.

I feel that institutional racism plays a great part in this because even though Haiti is not a communist country, the citizens of that countries lives are in danger. The U.S. could make the wet foot dry foot policy equal to all countries that are in turmoil.