Overcrowding and Inmigration in Miami Dade-County and USA - Essay Example

The arrival of Cuban refugees in the 1960s created a foundation for Miami as the gateway for Latin America. Lucrative trading, banking, and investment opportunities have made Miami a hot destination for the population of Central and South Americans as well as Caribbean Island. It is fact that the fast growth of immigrations and overcrowding has transformed the social environment. And this creates pressure for the government to understand the significance of social tensions within a planning framework by considering how growth management policy is primarily concerned with the potential environment.

(Gans, 1991) After Los Angeles and New York, Miami-Dade County is the third leading metropolitan area in terms of immigrants and overcrowding. In 1997 Miami-Dade County had one million foreign-born populations and now it has 48 percent of its population comprised of immigrants. After 1960s Miami has become the important destinations for immigrants as the ethnic change has greatly influenced the characteristics of the county as well as the United States. (MiamiHerald.com) Different opinions about the immigrants were doing round the corner since 1960s.

Some believe that immigrants in some counties of USA are using welfare services disproportionately and paying low taxes because they are poor. Others argue that immigrants today are economically assimilating into the American mainstream. Then there are some who believe that immigrants are making positive contribution to the economies of these counties. Legal hawks claim that the immigrants to these counties not to use welfare, but because they are ambitious and want to work hard to achieve a higher standard of living.

(Research Perspectives on Migration, 2001) From 1980 to 1981 the health centers in Miami were filled with Cuban and Haitian refugees. According to the Miami Health Center more than 5,000 refugees were