Saturday, June 22, 2024 | 12:23 p.m.
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In his column (What 1980 Miami can teach us about immigration today, June 17, Las Vegas Sun), Anthony Capote argues that we should use the lessons we learned from the Mariel Boatlift when creating immigration policies today. However, there are a two important points that should be taken into consideration:
1. The Mariel Boatlift moved about 150,000 Cubans and Haitians over a 6 1/2-month operation, working out to just over 20,000 a month. Although border crossings have declined significantly in 2024, law enforcement encounters more people crossing our southern border each month than the Mariel Boatlift transported during its entire 6 1/2-month span.
2. As Capote noted, Miami at the time was composed of 36% immigrants, many of whom were from Cuba or Haiti, meaning that there was a large existing community that could assimilate the newcomers and assist in their transition. This is not the case with many of today’s immigrants.
So if we want to apply the lessons we “learned” from 1980, we would restrict the number of immigrants allowed to cross into the U.S. to a manageable number, and we should make sure they have a sponsor already in the country so the burden won’t all be on the taxpayers.
