The Americas are experiencing a migrant crisis similar to Europe’s. 29,100 Cubans crossed into Texas in the fiscal year ending in September according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection figures.

More than 28,370 Cubans arrived at the Laredo, Texas checkpoint. That’s an 82% increase from the previous year and accounted for 66% of all Cubans entering the U.S. last year. Some reports say that more than 70,000 Cubans have fled the island nation this year. Such an influx hasn’t been seen since the Mariel boatlift of 1980, when 125,000 Cubans landed in South Florida.

Rather than try to get here on rickety boats as in the past, most are flying to Central America then trekking to the U.S., where they are welcomed under the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966.  It gives them an expedited track to American citizenship, including a green card, within one year of presenting themselves at a U.S. port-of-entry.

They are fleeing the communism of Cuban dictators, the Castro family, because they fear that the improved U.S. Cuba relations may end the special status that welcomes them, and they are trying to get here before that happens.  They also don’t trust that the Cuban government will change from the hardline communist state that it is today, despite the new relationship with the U.S.  The two countries opened embassies this summer.

Bottlenecks are happening similar to the ones seen in Europe as Middle Eastern and other migrants stream across borders there.  One such bottleneck has a reported 6,000 Cubans stranded in Costa Rica because Nicaragua strong man Daniel Ortega agreed to his friend Castro’s request to stop the flow.  Costa Rican officials have asked Belize to accept some 3,000.  Another 1,000 Cubans are overwhelming a Panamanian border town, where officials declared an emergency because of a lack of food, water and shelter.

There are no provisions for the Cuban refugees arriving throughout Texas, no government money to help them, and in Houston, aside from Casa Juan Diego, there appears to be little in the way of organized aid. Hundreds are flocking to aid centers such as Catholic Charities, which are surprised by their arrival as the situation has received very little publicity.  All the big outlets, Wall Street Journal, the BBC, CNN, NewsMax, NPR, The Economist have done one or two stories over the past year.  All in all, relatively little coverage.