ABSTRACT
Caribbean countries that have benefited from the liberal postwar immigration policies of Europe and North America are now caught in the politics of the post-Cold War era with emphasis on limits and restraints combined with internal anti-immigrant activism. The indicators and actions of the past decade demonstrate that the United States, the only major receiving country for Caribbean immigrants, will not for the foreseeable future expand any existing limits on immigration from the Caribbean. While the Cold War can be cited as the primary cause for Caribbean emigration in the 1950s and 1960s, the circumstances that promoted emigration varied. The impact of the migration crisis generated by the end of the Cold War has been felt largely in Europe. Germany, traditionally the most liberal of the immigrant-receiving states, capitulated under the pressures of asylum seekers and anti-immigrant violence. However, increasing anti-immigrant sentiment may yet lead the United States to take measures to close its borders more firmly.
