What’s been the general policy on immigrants vs defectors? If this ends up being IMHO feel free to move. Several questions I guess:
During the cold war, were Soviet defectors automatically granted green cards? Was it limited to those with intelligence, or also any high profile Soviets (dancers, athletes, scientists), or was any defection even by regular Soviets seen as such a blow to communism that every one was let in?
Now that the cold war is over are there any countries we still seek defectors from?
Although the cold war is over, there’s still some communist nations we don’t have perfect relationships with such as North Korea and China - do we seek any defectors from those?
Our current focus seems to be on terrorism, especially from radical Islam -
4a) Are we seeking defectors on that front?
4b) Does the non-specific country aspect of terrorism affect that?
4c) Does the fact that it’s more of a religious enemy than a political/philosophical enemy affect that?
How did and does this compare with general immigration policy, and also with seeking asylum?
It sounds like you’re asking this specifically to the US, but I’ll give you my story anyway.
I defected to Canada from Cuba while visiting there. Canada and Cuba have very good relations, politically and economically, but after some paperwork and a lot of interviews I was granted political asylum and eventually became a Canadian citizen.
From my experience it was obvious that while the Canadian government does not officially encourage defectors from Cuba, there are many people in the employ of the Canadian government who understand perfectly the reality of life in Cuba and are willing to work with asylum seekers to help their case.
And alphaboi867 is correct about the status of Cubans in the US, this is the result of a law called “Cuban Adjustment Act”. It has been modified since it’s original form, but essentially if a Cuban makes it to US soil they are granted legal status. By the way, this does not apply to me since I am no longer a Cuban citizen.