Record-breaking numbers of Cuban migrants entered the U.S. in 2022-23

A record-breaking number of Cubans have arrived in the U.S. over the last two years, according to updated data released by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Agency.

Slightly fewer than 425,000 Cubans were encountered at U.S. ports of entry in fiscal years 2022 and 2023, according to CBP, and 200,287 of those arrived in fiscal year 2023, which ended in September.

Most were apprehended at the U.S. border with Mexico, a marked change from previous waves of migration.

Those figures have smashed records. More Cubans have come to the U.S. in the last two years than came during the Freedom Flights, which saw 270,000 Cubans leave the island over a roughly eight-year period between 1965 and 1973. They are also greater than the combined numbers of Cubans who left during the 1980 Mariel Boatlift and the 1994 Balsero crisis.