Surge in Cuban border-crossers tops number from 1980’s Mariel boatlift
Surge in Cuban border-crossers tops number from 1980’s Mariel boatlift
By Bruce Golding
August 16, 2022 5:20pm Updated
Immigration officials stopped more than 175,000 Cuban migrants who entered the US since October — easily eclipsing the number who arrived during the massive Mariel boatlift of 1980, according to the latest figures released by US Customs and Border Protection.
The overwhelming majority of the CPB’s 177,848 “encounters” with Cuban nationals recorded during the past 10 months took place along the southwest border, where 175,674 were stopped by Border Patrol agents or at established crossings between the US and Mexico, the statistics show.
Single adults accounted for 137,435 of the migrants from Cuba, with 39,731 made up of various family members who entered the US together.
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Immigration officials stopped more than 175,000 Cuban migrants who entered the US since October.Katie McTiernan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
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A fishing boat loaded with Cuban refugees heads towards Key West in 1980.Bettmann Archive
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The overwhelming majority of the encounters with Cuban nationals took place along the southwest border.AP Photo/Mary MartinThe numbers, posted online Monday, are part of a migrant surge that’s expected to result in a record 2 million-plus apprehensions when the federal fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, even though monthly arrests declined in both June and July.
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In April 1980, the late communist leader Fidel Castro allowed disenchanted Cubans to flee their island nation from the port of Mariel amid unrest that erupted when thousands of people flooded the Peruvian embassy in hopes of being granted political asylum.
Vessels crammed full of freedom-seeking Cubans ferried around 125,000 “Marielitos” to Florida before Castro ended the operation in October 1980.
The immigrants included some released from mental hospitals and prisons, helping inspire the 1983 remake of the movie “Scarface.”
In it, Cuban ex-con Tony Montana, played by Al Pacino, rises from a job as a dishwasher to become a filthy rich Miami drug dealer who eventually dies in a furious, cocaine-fueled gun battle with his supplier’s henchmen.
The gory, climactic scene includes Pacino delivering the memorable line, “Say hello to my little friend!” before opening fire with a grenade launcher.
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Serial killer Jesus Aguilero murdered at least three women during the early 1980s.HANDOUTA real-life Marielito, Bronx resident Jesus Aguilero, became a serial killer who lured his female victims to their doom with the promise of selling them designer jeans at bargain-basement prices during the early 1980s.
Aguilero was convicted of three murders and is suspected in a fourth.
The number of Cubans who’ve crossed the US border this year was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
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