Latin+America

Cubans haven't been migrating to the United States for a very long time, it has only been in the last 50 years that they began progress in their migration. A popular site that one will find many Cuban immigrants is in the lower part of Florida, Key West to be specific. In the 1800's many Cigar factories opened. This gave many Cubans a chance to work and earn a living in the Great United States. Florida became a Cuban Colony from there on. A couple years after the Key West cigar factory opened, other cities in Florida continued to follow. One of the larger cities also opened a cigar factory, Tampa. Key West and Tampa are the two largest cigar factories in Florida. With more cities opening cigar factories, more job opportunities became available. Many Cubans started to gain their independence from Cuba and made their own decisions in Florida. From 1900 to 1950 the Cuban's situation with their island grew more difficult, and in the 1920's more immigrants fled their island to escape the harsh rulings of their dictator Gerardo Machado. At that time the United States depression brought the Cuban economy to a halt, and soon the United States and the Cuban immigrants ruled out the dictator of the island. After Machado's time serving a new man stepped up to the plate, Batista. In 1935 he lead a group of people and completely overthrew Cuba's government. 5 years later he was elected. For a time the United States had trust in Cuba and in US politics and business and the policy was to invest in Cuba and protect it. But they later lost the trust in Batista and a cold war started. In 1959 a new man was elected, Fidel Castro. The Cubans were at their lowest and they needed to get out of the rut they were in, they had faith in Castro and were hoping for the best of the best. Well, he brought it to the table. In his first years he brought America and Cuba out of the cold war, began a program for land form, and restructured their failing economy. He soon gained support from the Cuban Communist party, the Soviet Union, and the United States. After that, the government announced that they would welcome all refugees from Cuba. But it soon became known that it was all an act on America's part. They soon back fired at Castro's Cuba and more Cuban immigrants started migrating to the United States, so that more landowners and wealth would come to the US. In result of more immigrants migrating, more children also came to the US. Rumors circulated that back in Cuba Castro's men were braking in and taking the children from their homes and putting them into communist education. The catholic church and other groups in the US responded by bring 15,000 children middle and upper class children from Cuba to United States. The children were educated and given homes. As a consequence of the rumor, many Cuban professionals today have not seen their family since they were brought to America. In 1961 the relations between Cuba and America did not improve. On April 17, 1961 Cuban exiles came together and planned an invasion on Cuba at Bahio de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs). They did not receive any support from the US military and were defeated by the Cuban army. The United States became embarrassed by the failure of the Cuban exiles because of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Both the Americans and the Cuban exiles grew more and more angry. President Kennedy's response to the Cuban's naval blockade was to refuse all Cuban refugees. After the Bay of Pigs incident occurred, over 500,000 Cuban immigrants left the island. When President Johnson was elected in 1965 he made the decision to re-open the policy to accept Cuban refugees. At that time Castro also made the decision to allow Cubans who had relatives may leave, but the exiles in Florida must come and pick up their family. Later in the 1970's and 1980's the Mariel Boat lift took place, which is a very important occurrence for Cuban immigration. Before the boat left, a bus crash in April 1980 scared many of the Cubans to ride the boat to America. But soon, Castro allowed a clockwise rotation of boats that started in the Mariel Harbor and that is why it is known as the Mariel Boat lift. After this, many Cubans and their families were not so frightened by the thought of moving to another country, so many more did. By 2000 there were millions of immigrants recorded in the Census and it will continue.
 * Cuban Immigration History:**


 * Mexico:**
 * The largest group of immigrants to the United States are naturally born in Mexico.
 * There is much turmoil between the U.S. and Mexico today regarding privileges and laws being given and made that deal with the flow of immigrants across the shared border.
 * In the year 2002, Mexican immigrants made up 30% of all immigrants in America.
 * It is proven that many labor jobs are given to Mexican immigrants because they will accept the work for a little amount of money. This also creates disagreements dealing with the amount of jobs being available to rightful American citizens that are unemployed.
 * The total percent of Mexican immigrants in the U.S. is 32% of all foreign-born residents.
 * One in ten people born in Mexico now live here in America.

In order to become a citizen of these United States one must notify the government a year before entering. 6 months following the notification, a hearing will take place and one will be expected to swear to the constitution. At the hearing it is expected that the immigrant works for the United States and pays US taxes. All job applications require legal documents of citizenship.
 * Our Law:**

http://www.xtimeline.com/timeline/MexicoCubaandLatinAmerica
 * Timeline:**

In 1959, Fidel Castro overthrew Bastista. America and Cuba were hoping for better leadership from Fidel because Bastista brought corruption upon the country. Although to much dismay, Fidel's leadership has brought just as much disruption to the Cubans. He started turning to the Cuban Communist Party for support when the citizens rejected his ideas of reconstructing the economy. Eventually Fidel turned to the Soviet Union for help as well. The cold war in which America was fighting, had now moved just 90 miles south of United States territory. In response to this the U.S. government announced that all of Castro's Cubans are welcome to the United States. The move was an attempt to strike back at Castro and the Soviets. The U.S. thought this could damage the economy big time. In the early 1960's the U.S. discovered Soviets building a missile launching site in Cuba. President Kennedy's response was tough enough to force weapons to be withdrawn. After this America continued to allow Cuban's to come to the U.S and hurt Castro's economy and power. In the late 1970's and early 1980's, several events occured that would eventually lead to the most dramatic influx of Cuban immigrants in this century, the Mariel Boat Lift. During President Jimmy Carter's term, the United States tried to improve relations with Cuba. Castro made a generous offer. He allowed many more Cubans to leave, including prisoners of war.
 * Raul and Fidel Castro's Rule over Cuba:**

Central America immigrants also contribute to the amount of foreigners in the U.S. Each group of Central American immigrants has had its own reasons for coming. Costa Rican immigration in the United States has been less of a problem. This is probably because of the political and economical stability of the country. The population of immigrants from Honduras, however, grew immensely in the 2000. This is a result from a devastating hurricane coming through the country. The United States allowed thousands of Hondurans and Nicaraguans to stay and work in the country for refuge.
 * Central America**:


 * Graph of Cuban & Mexican Immigration:**