Cuban Adjustment ActPub. L. 89-732Español
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History of Cuban migration

Fourteen chapters, from January 1, 1959 to today. Every figure and date carries its source.

  1. 1959-1962The First ExileHow some 248,000 Cubans reached the U.S. between 1959 and 1962, what help they received, and why they were left in an immigration limbo that explains the 1966 law.
  2. 1960-1962Operation Pedro PanHow more than 14,000 Cuban minors reached the U.S. alone between 1960 and 1962, who organized it, what their parents feared and how families were reunited.
  3. 1962-1965The Closed-Door YearsFrom the October Crisis to September 1965: the prisoner exchange, departures through Spain and Mexico, escapes by sea and resettlement outside Miami.
  4. 1965-1973Camarioca and the Freedom FlightsHow a 1965 speech by Castro opened the port of Camarioca and led to the Varadero-Miami flights, which brought more than 260,000 Cubans to the U.S. by 1973.
  5. 1966The Birth of the Cuban Adjustment ActThe parole problem, bill H.R. 15183, the congressional debate and Lyndon B. Johnson's signing of Public Law 89-732 in November 1966.
  6. 1973-1979Dialogue and ReunionFrom the end of the Freedom Flights to the 1978 Dialogue: departures via Spain, the Interests Sections, freed prisoners and the 1979 visits.
  7. 1980The Mariel ExodusFrom the Peruvian embassy to the port of Mariel: how some 125,000 Cubans arrived in 1980, how Carter responded, and what the numbers actually show.
  8. 1981-1993Between Two CrisesThe Mariel excludables, the 1984 migration agreement, the 1987 prison riots, the Special Period, and the return of the rafters up to the summer of 1994.
  9. 1994The Rafter CrisisThe Maleconazo, Clinton's order to send rafters to Guantánamo, and the 1994 and 1995 agreements that closed the open door for Cubans.
  10. 1995-2016Wet Foot, Dry FootHow an administrative practice born of the 1995 agreement decided for two decades which Cubans could stay in the United States.
  11. 2017-2020The End of "Wet Foot, Dry Foot"On January 12, 2017, the policy that let Cubans who touched land stay came to an end. What changed, what stayed the same and what came next.
  12. 2021-2023The Great ExodusFrom the Tarea Ordenamiento and 11J to the route through Nicaragua: how and why hundreds of thousands of Cubans left for the United States in 2021-2023.
  13. 2023-2024Humanitarian ParoleThe parole process for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans (CHNV): how it worked, how many Cubans arrived and what happened to it through January 2025.
  14. 2025-2026Closed Doors, Law Still StandingHow the routes of arrival for Cubans were closed in 2025 and 2026, what the courts decided, and why the Cuban Adjustment Act remains in force.