Tarring of Mariel arrivals parallels demonization of present-day migrants | Opinion

Immigration activist Thomas Kennedy writes that the demonizing of migrants today should sound familiar to those who remember the Mariel boatlift.

If you grew up in Florida, you probably have heard of the Mariel boatlift.

In 1979, some Cuban dissidents decided to seek asylum at the embassies of South American countries. The situation at the Peruvian embassy quickly spiraled out of control when larger-than-expected crowds, numbering in the thousands, showed up. The Cuban government decided to ease the situation, which was devolving into a diplomatic squabble with the countries of the embassies involved and announced that people would be free to leave if another country would take them.

Fidel Castro would go on to announce that the port of Mariel would be the staging ground for anyone wishing to leave Cuba, prompting a flotilla of boats from Florida to make their way to Cuba. An estimated 125,000 Cubans would ultimately leave the island during this period. The common conception of this event, popularized through films like “Scarface,” is that Castro emptied his jails and mental institutions and created an exodus of criminals to South Florida.

It’s just not true.

Only about 2%, or 2,746 Cubans out of 125,000, could be considered actual criminals under United States law. Research on the effects of this migration into South Florida shows that these new migrants did not drive down wages, raise unemployment, or have an overall negative impact on the community. If anything, they increased overall wealth by filling labor gaps and creating businesses.

That didn’t stop a wave of backlash in the U.S. against the Mariel Cubans. As documented in Rick Perlstein’s great book “Reaganland,” Cubans suffered harsh treatment, like a plane flying above Fort Chaffee, which was used as a detention center, dragging a banner that read “THE KU KLUX KLAN IS WATCHING HERE.” Drivers would shout “Cubans go home” as they drove past the gates of the facility. Demonstrators picketed outside.

The Mariel boatlift did have a definite negative effect on American society, though one that can’t be blamed on the new Cuban arrivals. Under the Carter administration and the subsequent Reagan administration, the prison system and immigration detention facilities were expanded as politicians claimed that Cubans who arrived through the Mariel boatlift were putting too much pressure on the system. The rise of the deplorable private prison system, which puts a for-profit incentive on the incarceration of human beings, can be traced back to this moment, with Corrections Corporation of America opening its first privately owned facility in 1984. In 2022, 90,873 people were incarcerated in private prisons.

The plight of the Mariel Cubans and the unjust labeling of them as a criminal horde is reminiscent of the anti-immigrant rhetoric of today. Today, we hear politicians label asylum seekers as invaders, criminals, drug traffickers and even cannibals.

Democrats and Republicans are fighting over who is more restrictionist on the border. President Joe Biden sounds straight up Trumpian when claiming that if he was given the authority, he would “shut down the border on day one.”

Immigration detention has only expanded since the days of the Mariel boatlift. By mid-2023, more than 90% of the roughly 31,000 people being held by ICE were in private detention centers. For-profit prison companies like GEO Group and CoreCivic saw revenues from ICE contracts for detention centers jump to a record $1.05 billion in 2022. Our immigration system is becoming more carceral as time goes on.

None of it reflects how badly immigrants are needed in the United States, not only for their rich cultural contributions but also to just keep the economy afloat. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently made headlines by saying that the U.S. economy will be $7 trillion larger and federal revenues $1 trillion bigger due to increased immigration.

As the media keeps drumming up sensationalist headlines about the “border crisis,” actual research shows the influx of migrants has benefited the economy. A pickup in immigration that occurred post-pandemic accounts for at least one-fifth of the increase in U.S. gross domestic product since the end of 2019.

The cliche says that history doesn’t repeat, it echoes. When it comes to the scapegoating of immigrants, it couldn’t be more true. The anti-immigrant rhetoric we are hearing from politicians is not just nonsense — it’s rehashed nonsense that we have seen before.

Thomas Kennedy is a writer and former Democratic National Committee member from Miami. He has worked with organizations like the Florida Immigrant Coalition, Immigration Hub and as an aide in the Florida Legislature. He is on X and Threads @tomaskenn.