Cuban diaspora

The term "Cuban exile" refers to the many Cubans who fled from or left the island of Cuba. These peoples consist of two primary groups loosely defined by the period of time occurring before and after the Mariel boat lift of the 1980s. The pre-Mariel group consisted of the mostly middle and upper classes of the island who fled due to fear of widespread reprisals after the communist takeover led by Fidel Castro in the late 1950s-1970s. The people in this group were mainly seeking political asylum. The second group consists of those peoples who emigrated from Cuba during and after the period of the Mariel boat lift of the 1980s. By and large, the majority of these peoples were, and are, economic migrants. The phenomenon date back to the Ten Years' War and the struggle for Cuban independence during the 19th century. In modern times, the term refers to the large exodus of Cubans to the United States since the 1959 Cuban Revolution.

More than 1.5 million Cubans of all classes and racial groups have left the island for the United States (especially Florida), > and other countries.

The majority of the 1,172,899 current Cuban exiles living in the United States live in Florida (917,033 in 2014), mainly in Miami-Dade County, where more than third of the population is Cuban. Other exiles have relocated to form substantial Cuban communities in New York City (16,416), Louisville, KY (6,662), Houston,TX (6,233), Los Angeles, CA (6,056), Union City, NJ (4,970) and others.

Most Cuban exiles in the United States are both legally and self-described political refugees. This status allows them different treatment under U.S. immigration statutes than immigrants who are not categorized as political refugees.

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