Fidel Castro Quotes
Foreigners being persecuted by reactionaries and exploiters can find asylum here [Cuba]. It does not matter if they speak English and were born in the United States.
A number of Americans had asked for and were granted political asylum. Many were left-wing dissidents, but a number were Southern Black Civil Rights workers who had been framed with trumped up charges by racist states and communities.
Fidel Castro, Cuban Premier, speech, Chaplin Theater, Havana, October 4, 1965
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Most immigration reformers want to open immigration more widely. Ward wanted immigration restricted to certain ethnicities and limited.
Ironically, where national quotas have been used in American immigration policy, it has rarely been used to keep nationals of countries with which we were having difficulty, out. In almost all cases, the national quotas have been used to discriminate against racial and religious minorities in America. Asians, Blacks, Hispanics, Catholics, Mormons and Jews have been the most frequent groups targeted. Even when we were in the midst of the Cold War, American policy was to accept immigrants from the Soviet Union and Cuba enthusiastically.
For Christians and Jews, this statement has formed a moral obligation to not oppress immigrants and asylum seekers.
He was reacting to the protests and riots of Islamic immigrants who had become a significant minority of France coming mostly from North Africa—especially the former French Colonies where French was spoken and the French educational and legal system were in effect. France, traditionally, has been one of the most open countries to immigrants and minorities however the unwritten cultural norm was that the immigrant would always identify first as a Frenchman, and adopt French language, manners, values and customs. Unlike the United States or Canada where immigrants could easily maintain most of their values, cultural traditions and languages, France required more assimilation to succeed. The Muslim immigrants at the turn of the millennium were not as malleable as other French immigrant groups especially with respect to the treatment of women and the freedom of expression that has always been so valuable to the French. The combination produced misunderstanding, discrimination and far less economic opportunity than other groups of immigrants had previously.
At the time immigrants had to live in America 14 years before they were eligible for citizenship. The President urged a reduction in that waiting period which is what was done. This was one of the earliest statements of America as a haven to the oppressed of the world. Note that despite occasional squabbles over land use and theft, the general assessment of the President and the public was that the Indians although not as civilized had welcomed the whites with “hospitality.” The next years would produce the conflict for land and begin the massive usurpation of Indian land that would characterize American policy and practice until the latter half of the 20th century, buy which time there was little Indian land left.
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz better known internationally as Fidel Castro, was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President from 1976 to 2008. Ideologically a Marxist–Leninist and Cuban nationalist, he also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from 1961 until 2011. Under his administration, Cuba became a one-party communist state; industry and business were nationalized, and state socialist reforms were implemented throughout society.
