History of Cuban Immigration to the United States
 The main reason why
Cubans came to the United States was in search of a better life.
Toward the end of the 19th century the Cubans, especially musicians, began to
settle in such places as New Orleans, Louisiana. Cubans played an influential
role in their jazz music which is something that New Orleans became known for.
This contributed to the start of American-Cuban connections throughout the
United States. Cubans spread through various parts of the U.S. and Florida
became a popular settling destination. They came in waves and began to establish
their own communities. Once a railroad was built which allowed them to more
easily travel within Florida, many Cubans settled in Key West. The Cubans’
population growth was fueled by the birth of more children and additional
migration of Cubans. They even established a community that they referred to as
“Little Havana.”
According to the 1910 Census the number of Cubans in the U.S. was officially
over 15,000 but like with any census the actual numbers tend to be larger since
not everyone is accounted for.
In 1959 the number of Cubans in the United States was estimated at 124,000.
After the first years of the revolution in Cuba and with Fidel Castro coming
into power, many Cubans unhappy with how things were at home fled to the United
States. Some especially the wealthy fled to protect their assets which were now
threatened in a socialist country or because they did not have political
freedom. Others followed their families to their U.S. so that they would not be
separated. Shortly after Fidel Castro came into power, during the early years of
the revolutionary period about 215,000 Cubans made the move to the U.S.
Before 1985 there was no limit on how many Cubans could enter the U.S. if they
went about it through normal immigration procedures. This was also true for
other groups of immigrants as well. Unlike other groups who came into the
country undocumented, Cubans were granted a special status which made it easier
to gain residency. Others had to prove that they were fleeing for political
reasons so that they could be granted the status of a refugee while Cubans were
automatically given refugee status along with other privileges. Some of these
special privileges were introduced in 1966 and included gaining permanent
residency if the Cuban had been in the U.S. for at least a year. Even if the
Cuban had stayed longer than the time period allowed on the visitor visas, they
were still granted permanent residency.
Cubans had been entering the United States on a continuous basis after Fidel
Castro took over, but it was not until the summer of 1994 that the U.S.
experienced a huge wave of immigrants from Cuba. Approximately 33,000 Cubans
fled to the U.S. because the Soviet Union which Cuba was heavily dependent upon
for trade dissolved and it put Cuba in a tight economic situation. As a result,
the government instilled a rationing system to deal with food, electricity and
gasoline shortages. The discontent continued to grow among many
Cubans who
wanted more political freedom and some ended up fleeing the country. Due to the
large wave of Cubans entering the country that year, the United States made an
agreement in September 1994 that would limit the number of incoming Cubans to
20,000 annually. Out of the 33,000 Cubans nearly 31,000 were detained at
Guantanamo. The U.S. Attorney General in May 1995 announced that the Cubans in
Guantanamo would be permitted to enter the United States if they had no criminal
history. In March 1996 these Cubans were officially admitted as parolees. The
perception of these parolees was that most would contribute to the U.S. economy
since they were for the most part educated, professional and highly motivated.
In addition, they seemed to be able to assimilate well into communities such as
Miami with minor problems. In this instance, the U.S. government ended up
surpassing their annual limit of 20,000 immigration visas.
Related Articles:
|
IMMIGRATION CART | 
MY ACCOUNT
Back to Immigration Articles