Cubans are arriving to the US in record numbers. Smugglers are profiting from their exodus

In March, more than 32,000 Cubans arrived at the US-Mexico border, almost twice the number from the previous month, according to US Customs and Border Protection data. The migrants then reached a gap in the wall where someone had left a case of water and bars of chocolate, she said. Shortly after, US Customs and Border Protection agents arrived to transport them to a detention center in Yuma, where they were interviewed, fingerprinted and tested for Covid. Claudia’s son was examined by a pediatrician, she said. Less than 24 hours later, the family was released after they requested asylum. They contacted their relatives in Florida who bought them airplane tickets to Miami.Under the 1996 Cuban Adjustment Act, Cubans who spend a year in the US are able to apply to become permanent residents.Claudia says she is still disorientated by life in the US, but that her family’s dangerous journey was worth the risks.”I feel liberated,” Claudia said. “I am another person now, I feel reborn.”