The United States' New Refugees

This paper summarizes available research material on the resettlement of South-East Asian, Haitian and Cuban refugees in the United States, and is addressed to policy makers in education and other human services. It is divided into nine chapters in which the author includes material on the government's policy towards these refugees; the response of local communities to the influxes; the refugee experience, camp experience and differing cultural backgrounds; educational programmes for refugees; and, different aspects of adjustment by the refugees. The author draws attention to the lack of serious research on the 1980 influxes of Cubans and Haitians which, she suggests, is due to their ambiguous legal status. The author also suggests that the definition of a refugee be rethought. In referring to the acknowledged failure of the government's "scatter policy", the author emphasises the importance of the community in the refugee's capacity to establish a self-help network and to cope with problems originating from the exodus and from cultural assimilation in the United States. Finally, the author points out that the refugees themselves also require better access to knowledge about what information exists as well as better access to the actual documents and sources. Bibliography.