Other families know what its like to have freedom snatched away. After years of working six days a week for miniscule wages, sewing dresses or picking vegetables, they have had freedom and the opportunity of a better life taken away after being rounded up by Immigration Naturalization Services and deported back to Guatemala, Honduras, or Mexico.

These are only two examples of the travesties that occur daily in the land of opportunity and freedom-the Unites States of America. The United States was built by immigrants, many seeking a new

In a recent article in the Miami New Times, Defede (1999) writes that the "immorality of America's immigration policy exists not in its treatment of Cubans, but in its treatment of the rest of the world when compares with Cubans" (Defede, 1999, p.13). Defede feels that the United States is inconsistent with its immigration policy and is especially lenient towards Cubans. According to Defede, it is immoral to repatriate a Cuban refugee caught in the surf, so close to dry land and freedom. But he says the problem exists because the U.S. allows Cubans who reach dry land to stay in the U.S. and grants them residency 366 days after they arrived. That is the lure that brings the Cubans and the promise that they risk their lives for. Eliminate this and the illegal immigration from Cuba would slow to a trickle, according to Defede.

Wilbanks, Dana W. (1993). The moral debate between humanitarianism and national interest about U.S. refugee policy; a theological perspective. Migration World Magazine, 21, 15.

We have an historic commitment to immigration and we need to remember that immigrants keep our nation strong, economically competitive, and culturally rich. The question of whether America's doors should be open or closed will continue to be intensely debated in the courts, in Congress, and in communities where immigrants settle.

The United States Government and its citizens need to re-examine the immigration policy. Allowing 700,000 immigrants into the country a year is not enough. Instead we need an open-door policy. The overall limit gives the INS too much power to pick and choose whom they feel should be let in. A 700,000-year immigrants cap also encourages illegal immigration. American's are always saying, " If those people want to get in let them do it the legal way." Well, given the means and resources most immigrants would most definitely choose to come legally as opposed to climbing high barbed-wire fences or floating for days on a raft. The fact that we allow people to die trying to get to our soil is an inhumane, immoral, and unethical as forcing Africans to this country and turning them into slaves. An open-door policy would also end the inconsistency of the current immigration policy. Presently, we allow thousands of Cubans to enter the U.S. and to remain as residents while the majority of Haitians are turned back.

The U.S. policy towards Haiti, however, couldn't be any more contradictory. According to an editorial written in America (1992), a U.S. District Judge tried to halt U.S> efforts to ship back some two-thirds of the 15,000 Haitians who had left their homes after the military coup that overthrew the government of Jean Bertrand-Aristide. The U.S. Supreme Court lifted the ban and the Coast Guard began removing more than 10,000 Haitian refugees being detained at the U.S> Naval base in Guantanamo Bay. This led to a hunger strike by the then 82 year-old humanitarian Katherine Dunham. Also, according to the article, an outcry erupted from U.S. Catholic bishops who said it was "morally irresponsible" and "morally questionable" (America, 1992, p.1). The article also quotes the Catholic Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy who said, "It is only natural that the refugees experience should spawn well-founded suspicions that the treatment received by Haitians is the result of institutional ra

Some common words found in the essay are:
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