Amnesty and Refugee Status

I have a question. Some legal immigrants in our country are here as refugees, or have been granted amnesty. This was due to reasons such as civil war or massive earthquakes/flooding in their home countries. Some Central Americans in the Washington DC area are here for those reasons. Whether right or wrong, they are technically here legally. (of course, many are also in the DC area illegally, too!)

If you are here legally for one of those reasons, are you here permanently, or do you have to go back to your home country after so many years? Also, can people who are here for one of those reasons legally work in our country? This is one area where, assuming that they can stay permanently (if that is the intent of this type of legal status) then I think they should be able to legally work. Now, I don't think that a person here on a tourist visa should be able to work in the USA, but if you're going to be here permanently due to amnesty or refugee status from the information listed above, it would make sense to give them the legal right to work. Otherwise, how would they support themselves?(as they are actually here legally) Perhaps some eventually become US citizens...I don't know?

Can anyone inform me on this issue? I know...I'm always bringing up weird questions!

Joe

:-)