Cuban Immigration in 1980

During and after World War II, the United States embarked on a new era of humanitarian leadership by formally welcoming hundreds of thousands of European migrants as refugees. The United States designed a system to handle people applying for protective status in advance of traveling to the United States. Under U.S. law such people are known as refugees. However, this system was less equipped to absorb a sudden influx of people, known as asylum seekers, who do not apply for status until arriving at the border.

During the Cold War, U.S. refugee and asylum admissions were largely influenced by the ongoing conflict. After Fidel Castro established communist rule in Cuba in 1959, the threat of containing communism in the Western Hemisphere became a foremost policy objective. The United States was desperate to minimize the threat of a new Soviet ally only 90 miles away from U.S. shores. After cutting diplomatic ties with Cuba in 1961, it sought to protect Cubans who migrated to the United States as refugees or asylum seekers. These migrants were eager to flee Cuba following decades of political repression and human rights abuses. When Castro briefly opened up Cuba for emigration in 1965, thousands of boats made unauthorized trips to Florida. The United States granted Cuban migrants protection but overwhelmed the U.S. asylum system in the process. As a result, the United States established a separate refugee program for Cubans. Between 1965 and 1973, the U.S. government accepted approximately three hundred thousand Cuban refugees. Upon arrival, Cuban migrants were granted protection and were offered a path to legal residence. The protection of Cuban migrants provided a stark contrast to the treatment of thousands of Haitians arriving in Florida by boat. Haitian migrants similarly fled repression and human rights abuses in noncommunist Haiti in the 1970s but were denied asylum. Unlike Cuban migrants, Haitian asylum seekers were detained upon arrival, and often deported. 

Preferential treatment toward Cuban migrants instigated a debate about U.S. immigration policy leading up to 1980. At the time, many Americans were struggling to overcome growing inflation and the economic fallout of the 1979 oil crisis. A poor economic backdrop helped sow resentment amongst many Americans. As a result, many opposed the protection of Cuban migrants out of fear that a large influx of migrants would displace American workers. Specifically, some policymakers argued that the millions of dollars spent on the Cuban refugee program placed an undue burden on the U.S. economy. Policymakers also feared that favorable treatment of Cuban asylum seekers would encourage more migrants to come; a policy that would cause further strain on the U.S. immigration system. However, critics countered that inclusive immigration policies provided a much-needed boost to the economy by bolstering the labor force. Furthermore, as Cold War tensions persisted, many argued that protections for Cubans amplified U.S. ideological opposition to communism. Although some policymakers believed that welcoming Cuban migrants enhanced U.S. humanitarian leadership, others cautioned that U.S. favoritism toward Cubans could harm the United States’ reputation abroad: discriminatory immigration policies toward migrants from noncommunist countries could ultimately damage U.S. credibility. Meanwhile, a worsening economic situation in Cuba—exacerbated by a continued U.S. embargo—left many Cubans eager for an opportunity to immigrate to the United States.