175G Cubans in surge

Immigration officials stopped more than 175,000 Cuban migrants who entered the US since October — eclipsing the 125,000 who arrived during the massive Mariel boatlift of 1980, according to the latest figures released by US Customs and Border Protection.

The overwhelming majority of the agency’s 177,848 “encounters” with Cuban nationals in the past 10 months took place along the southwest border, where 175,674 were stopped by Border Patrol agents or at established crossings between the US and Mexico, the statistics show. Single adults accounted for 137,435 of the migrants from Cuba, with 39,731 being family members who entered the US together.

The numbers, posted online Monday, are part of a migrant surge expected to yield a record 2 million-plus apprehensions when the federal fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, even though monthly arrests declined in June and July.

In April 1980, the late communist leader Fidel Castro let disenchanted Cubans flee from the port of Mariel amid a heightened period of unrest.