Book Description

This study is an effort to survey the situation of Central American refugees in the United States in the late 1980s. It is based primarily on interviews conducted in nine states with American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) staff and others doing refugee work, as well as with refugees themselves. The report also draws on numerous reports, articles and newsletters. The aim of the paper, according to the authors, is to provide a current overview of the situation of refugees and refugee-related work that may help local groups relate their own concerns and work to what is happening elsewhere. The authors state that underlying the report are two broad convictions: first, that the presence of Central Americans in the United States raises fundamental questions of human rights; and second, that although the Central American crisis arose from processes internal to the region, United States policy has aggravated the conflicts that have generated the flow of refugees. The first section of the survey focuses on the changing nature of the wars in Central America and their impact on refugee flows. The second section focuses not only on the situation along the US Mexico border, but also on the obstacles the refugees face and the various struggles they have to defend their rights in dealing with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). In the third section, the authors point to some of the characteristics of Central American refugee communities in the United States, concentrating especially on the major problems faced by the refugees and those trying to help them, such as physical and mental health. Activities of several organizations under the umbrella of the Central America Refugee Network (CARNET) are described. The last section considers the United States government policies on immigration and organized efforts to change them. The authors look at international law and United States law on refugees, INS practice and legal challenges to it, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, and temporary asylum.