REFUGEES:
That millions of people find the conditions in their country so undesirable that they choose to migrate elsewhere is not a surprise. The daily conditions imposed by the dominant society, particularly in the vast portions of the world where this domination is blunt, undisguised thievery, are absolutely noxious towards all things that live or might wish to live. Capitalism is war. Whether it shows itself in open violent conflict or not - and (taken globally) it does daily - the continuation of this system is both rooted in, and inherently violence. As a result, refugees of war are everywhere.
A refugee of war is a time-bomb. Every war that the colonial and neocolonial masters have instigated over the past hundreds of years has simultaneously sown the seeds of resistance in millions of survivors. In places such as Palestine where the people have faced over 50 years of military occupation, apartheid and genocidal "removal" campaigns, the rage felt among the people is truly awe-inspiring. At this point, more than 50 percent of the population of the occupied territories are 18 years old or younger. They have known nothing but Israeli oppression and have nothing to look forward to but the Intifada.
And there are many, many Palestines, just as there will be many, many Vietnam-style wars of national liberation.
Of course, the vicious irony of the situation is that people flee their impoverished home conditions and enter the u.s., the country that crafted the conditions at "home," crafted a way of life here that is rooted in flaunting the affluence gained from the theft abroad, and is armed beyond compare to guarantee the perpetuation of such poverty.
The offensive posture of the u.s. state toward the third world migrant - in terms of making her feel thoroughly unwelcome (the violent excesses and policies of intimidation of the INS, the militarization of the Mexican border, English-only laws, deportations, etc.) - is fairly well understood and described by american progressives and radicals. More complicated, and perhaps more revealing of the true nature of the migrants' presence in the u.s. is the offense of the posture that encourages him to stay.
It is this "middle path" of simultaneously damning you and also needing you to survive so that you can be exploited that is the essence of imperialist domination. The "guest worker" programs geared towards the gross exploitation of Latinos, and the acceptance of Indians, Asians, Africans and West Indians into the scientific and computer engineering fields are two prongs of this same attack.
The Latina is "niggerized," both to extract enormous profits without having to set up operations abroad, and to establish the foundations of a (veiled) neo-nazi platform. The legitimate rage of the descendents of slaves in america is redirected, (downward) while continuing, virtually unabated, the total tyranny and assault on Black people in this country. The Spanish-speaking "nigger," and the Third World migrant in general, is used as the context for the forces of reaction to actually intensify the open hostilities and murderous delights that has existed here, to various degrees (almost entirely among white people) ever since the invasion.
And though it is less blatant, the existence of a Third World intelligentsia in america is part of the same process. Because although the Third World educated class enters the american university to flee the poverty at home (and at times do actually achieve a degree of material prosperity here) their presence in the first world ultimately aids in the mass impoverishment (materially or otherwise) of the bulk of the world's population. From the standpoint of the empire, the educated migrant is merely the exception that proves the inherent niggerdom of the entire third world.
The migrant is also made to feel welcome to the extent that he becomes american, which is the same as saying, "the extent to which he becomes not himself." Much like in the economic sphere, the migrant then becomes trapped between two identities, both of which are not enough to keep her alive. Economically she is not quite a slave and yet not quite a second class citizen. Culturally she is never again fully of her people, and yet never allowed to forget her exclusion from full participation in amerika.
In practice, this paradox tends to play itself out in ways that appear contradictory, or confused. First generation immigrants create communities in which some portion of home is kept alive: the languages, the foods, the religions, the celebrations, and so forth. here, there is almost a vibrancy, and, at times, even an atmosphere of community self-defense that is inspiring and liberatory. And yet, almost as soon as possible, and certainly by the second or third generation, these practices fade away in favor of the quasi-americanism that becomes possible. Sadly, in the narrative of immigrant communities' survival, it is inevitably emphasized that it was the assimilation, and not the community self-defense that kept the people alive.