MIAMI
Tollbooth is a gateway to freedom for Cubans
For Cubans who arrive wet and disheveled in the wee hours, the tollbooth
at the Rickenbacker Causeway is a key entry point.
BY KATHLEEN McGRORY
kmcgrory@MiamiHerald.com
The Rickenbacker Causeway has become a destination of choice for
smugglers ferrying Cubans to the United States, U.S. Border Patrol
officials say, giving a new wrinkle to the job of graveyard-shift toll
collector.
Since the start of the year, at least 145 Cuban migrants in 15 separate
groups have trickled onto the causeway, including the group of 10 men,
10 women and six children who arrived Monday, Border Patrol records
show. That's more than twice the number who arrived on the causeway for
all of last year.
This year, more than half of those who have arrived on the Rickenbacker
have come through the tollbooth, according to Miami-Dade County officials.
Most show up before sunrise, when the toll plaza is quiet.
''I've never seen it like this before,'' said Mike Bauman, who oversees
the causeway.
Coincidence?
Apparently not. According to Maria Elena Rodriguez, a recent arrival
from the Villa Clara province, the brightly lit bridge connecting the
causeway to downtown Miami has become a beacon for Cubans traveling to
the United States. In some villages, they are told to follow the bridge
to the toll plaza for food and water, Rodriguez said.
Authorities aren't sure why more are landing along the Rickenbacker, but
they're pointing to smugglers. Thirteen of this year's 15 landings were
presumed to have involved smuggling, U.S. Border Patrol officials said.
''Sometimes smugglers have their routines, and that includes where they
want to land people,'' said Stephen McDonald, a Border Patrol spokesman.
``This may be a new routine.''
`WET FOOT/DRY FOOT'
Under the ''wet foot/dry foot'' policy, Cuban migrants who reach land
are permitted to stay in the United States. Those who are interdicted at
sea are usually taken back to Cuba unless they can convince immigration
authorities that they fear returning to their homeland.
The policy is different for Haitians. A large group reached the
Rickenbacker Causeway toll plaza en masse in 2002. Most of those
migrants, who were also helped by the toll booth workers, ultimately had
to return to Haiti.
For the Cubans who are allowed to stay, reaching the tollbooth is a
life-changing experience. It was for Lida Estel Lugo, 34, who landed
along the causeway with her 9-year-old son Jose Carlos Rodrigues Lugo.
Sopping wet and exhausted, the mother held her son close in the plaza
while waiting for the Border Patrol in March.
The 26 Cubans who arrived at the causeway at around 1:30 a.m. Monday ran
toward tollbooth workers, witnesses said.
As for the Rickenbacker employees, aiding migrants isn't exactly part of
the job. But toll workers like Rique Luis Calzadilla say it happens all
the time.
BREAD AND MILK
Calzadilla, a toll collector since 1998, was on his 15-minute break when
nearly two dozen weary Cuban migrants showed up at the plaza in April.
He came outside immediately and offered the migrants bread and milk.
A native Cuban, Calzadilla first tried to come to Miami aboard a small
boat in 1995. He was interdicted at sea, however, and sent to Guantánamo
Bay, where he stayed for one year while his asylum claim was processed.
''The Cubans come here for freedom,'' Calzadilla said. ``I help them
because I understand.''
Maria Estrada has stories of migrant landings, too.
Estrada, a veteran tollbooth worker, was halfway through the midnight
shift in April when a stranger rapped on her window.
The man, drenched and disheveled, said he had just arrived from Cuba. He
wasn't alone. In the distance, another 20 migrants were trekking toward
the plaza.
''I gave them milk and coffee, and the food I had brought for myself,''
Estrada said. ``I stayed there until the police came.'
Estrada, who is Cuban, says helping the migrants goes beyond her heritage.
''When people are sick and weak, you want to help,'' she said. ``It's
emotional.''
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