The Caribbean Immigration Centrifuge: A Portent of Continued Immigration Growth (NPG Footnote)

David Simcox
February 1, 1995
Forum Papers
Forum Paper
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An NPG Forum Paper
(NPG Footnote)
by David Simcox
February 1995

Washington’s agreement with Castro last fall to increase Cuban immigration to at least 20,000 a year once again sacrifices much-needed immigration restraint for foreign policy quick fixes. The administration’s bending of the immigration law’s eligibility rules is a reckless precedent that will encourage future circumventions.

Moreover, Washington’s policies toward both Cuba and Haiti betray its tendency to see only the short-term political and economic factors in the outflow of Caribbean peoples, ignoring the long-term social and demographic forces driving mass migration from the Caribbean’s 22 island nations, whether rich or poor, democratic or dictatorial.

In the past decade, Caribbean island nations, with a population of 35 million, have sent more than one million legal and illegal immigrants to the United States one-sixth of the region’s population increase over the decade.

….Continue reading the full Forum paper by clicking here.

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David Simcox

David Simcox is a former NPG Senior Advisor. From 1985 to 1992 he was executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. From 1956 to 1985, Simcox was a career diplomat of the U.S. Department of State, with service in diplomatic posts in Latin America, Africa, Europe, and in Washington. His diplomatic assignments involved formulation of policy for labor, population and migration issues in such countries as Mexico, Panama, Dominican Republic, Brazil and the nations of Indo-China. Simcox is a frequent contributor on population, immigration and Latin American matters to national newspapers and periodicals and has testified on several occasions before congressional committees on immigration, labor and identification policies. He holds degrees from the University of Kentucky, American University and the National War College. Simcox is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and saw service in the Korean conflict. If you are affiliated with the media and would like to schedule an interview with David, please contact us at 703-370-9510.