Sourcebook on Central American Refugee Policy


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This bibliography of almost 800 entries includes books, newspaper, magazine and journal articles, unpublished papers, government documents, human rights reports, newsletters and bulletins, and other print material which was gathered by students and faculty during the course of a research seminar on the topic at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs of the University of Texas at Austin during 1983-1984. The bibliography does not claim to be an exhaustive listing of resources on Central American refugee issues. Although there was an attempt to gather as much information as possible, much of the material reflects a Texas focus. The major sections of this publication include: 1) books, manuscripts, unpublished papers, and church, government and human rights reports; 2) magazine and journal articles; 3) newspaper articles, editorials and statements; and 4) newsletters, bulletins, other reports and resources. Within each section, entries are arranged alphabetically first by title (when there is no author given), then alphabetically by author. Finally there is an index by subject and country. This publication reflects the combined efforts of the LBJ School of Public Affairs of the University of Texas, and the Central America Resource Center, a nonprofit educational and information Center located in Austin.




The Central American Refugees


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Refugee Problems in Central America


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Media, Central American Refugees, and the U.S. Border Crisis


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This book identifies the history, conventions, and uses of security discourses, and argues that such language and media frames distort information and mislead the public, misidentify the focus of concern, and omit narratives able to recognize the causes and solutions to humanitarian crises. What has been identified as a crisis at the border is better understood as an on-going crisis of violence, building over decades, that has forced migrants from their homes in the countries of the Northern Triangle. Authors Robin Andersen and Adrian Bergmann look back to U.S. military policies in the region and connect this legacy to the cross-border development of transnational gangs, government corruption, and on-going violence that often targets environmental and legal defenders. They argue that the discourses of demonization and securitization only help perpetuate brutality in both Central America and the United States, especially in the desert borderlands of the southwest. They offer ways in which stories of migrants can be reframed within the language of justice, empathy, and humanitarianism. A compelling examination of language, media, and politics, this book is both highly contemporary and widely applicable, perfect for students and scholars of global media, political communications, and their many intersections.







Central American Refugees


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Seeking Refuge


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The political upheaval in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala had a devastating human toll at the end of the twentieth century. A quarter of a million people died during the period 1974-1996. Many of those who survived the wars chose temporary refuge in neighboring countries such as Honduras and Costa Rica. Others traveled far north, to Mexico, the United States, and Canada in search of safety. Over two million of those who fled Central America during this period settled in these three countries. In this incisive book, María Cristina García tells the story of that migration and how domestic and foreign policy interests shaped the asylum policies of Mexico, the United States, and Canada. She describes the experiences of the individuals and non-governmental organizations—primarily church groups and human rights organizations—that responded to the refugee crisis, and worked within and across borders to shape refugee policy. These transnational advocacy networks collected testimonies, documented the abuses of states, re-framed national debates about immigration, pressed for changes in policy, and ultimately provided a voice for the displaced. García concludes by addressing the legacies of the Central American refugee crisis, especially recent attempts to coordinate a regional response to the unique problems presented by immigrants and refugees—and the challenges of coordinating such a regional response in the post-9/11 era.




Central America


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The Guarded Gate


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This study details the design and operation of the two major gates (overseas processing and asylum) through which people in need of international protection may secure entry to the Unites States. It deals with asylum issues and with the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) both in resettling refugees into their new communities and in offering sanctuary to the 'unprotected'. The authors have also conducted an investigation of the reality of American refugee policy. According to them policy questions are: who gets in? why? and how? The answer requires an understanding of the various factors which determine a superpower's humanitarian policies, and of the multiple actors who, in a democracy, oppose or unite their forces to advance, rebut or alter those policies. The authors prove their point by researching, as far back as 1790 and to such recent developments as the Indochinese Refugee Resettlement and Protection bill of 1987, the US record of admitting victims of persecution or oppression through overseas processing, and of confronting mass influxes of spontaneous arrivals. In this framework they debate the inter-relationships between the foreign policy of the United States and the criteria for admitting refugees.




U.S. Central Americans


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In summer 2014, a surge of unaccompanied child migrants from Central America to the United States gained mainstream visibility—yet migration from Central America has been happening for decades. U.S. Central Americans explores the shared yet distinctive experiences, histories, and cultures of 1.5-and second-generation Central Americans in the United States. While much has been written about U.S. and Central American military, economic, and political relations, this is the first book to articulate the rich and dynamic cultures, stories, and historical memories of Central American communities in the United States. Contributors to this anthology—often writing from their own experiences as members of this community—articulate U.S. Central Americans’ unique identities as they also explore the contradictions found within this multivocal group. Working from within Guatemalan, Salvadoran, and Maya communities, contributors to this critical study engage histories and transnational memories of Central Americans in public and intimate spaces through ethnographic, in-depth, semistructured, qualitative interviews, as well as literary and cultural analysis. The volume’s generational, spatial, urban, indigenous, women’s, migrant, and public and cultural memory foci contribute to the development of U.S. Central American thought, theory, and methods. Woven throughout the analysis, migrants’ own oral histories offer witness to the struggles of displacement, travel, navigation, and settlement of new terrain. This timely work addresses demographic changes both at universities and in cities throughout the United States. U.S. Central Americans draws connections to fields of study such as history, political science, anthropology, ethnic studies, sociology, cultural studies, and literature, as well as diaspora and border studies. The volume is also accessible in size, scope, and language to educators and community and service workers wanting to know about their U.S. Central American families, neighbors, friends, students, employees, and clients. Contributors: Leisy Abrego Karina O. Alvarado Maritza E. Cárdenas Alicia Ivonne Estrada Ester E. Hernández Floridalma Boj Lopez Steven Osuna Yajaira Padilla Ana Patricia Rodríguez