A challenge to Wisconsin’s abortion ban could already be making its way to the state Supreme Court. The law was first passed in 1849 and went back into effect last June when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. In our half-hour special “How We Got Here: Abortion in Wisconsin Since 1849,” Bridgit Bowden […]

A challenge to Wisconsin’s abortion ban could already be making its way to the state Supreme Court. The law was first passed in 1849 and went back into effect last June when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. In our half-hour special “How We Got Here: Abortion in Wisconsin Since 1849,” Bridgit Bowden […]

In fall 2023, the moment Ernesto Rodriguez of La Crosse had been waiting decades for had arrived. He finally became a U.S. citizen, more than 40 years after arriving in Wisconsin following the Mariel boatlift.

A challenge to Wisconsin's abortion ban could already be making its way to the state Supreme Court. The law was first passed in 1849 and went back into effect last June when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. In our special "How We Got Here: Abortion in Wisconsin since 1849," WPR reporters explore how the ban came to be and how Wisconsinites have lived with and without it since. See more at wpr.org/1849.

A challenge to Wisconsin's abortion ban could already be making its way to the state Supreme Court. The law was first passed in 1849 and went back into effect last June when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. In our special "How We Got Here: Abortion in Wisconsin since 1849," WPR reporters explore how the ban came to be and how Wisconsinites have lived with and without it since.

From Cuba to Oktoberfest

Youth Lost to a Revolution

Failed Dreams and Embassy Breaks

The Mariel Boatlift

A New Home at Fort McCoy

Becoming a Wisconsinite

Crime and Adversity

Cuba is Calling

The Cuban exiles who arrived in Wisconsin in 1980 as part of the Mariel Boatlift have become family to one another. They are Wisconsinites. But their hearts remain in Cuba, and they want to visit their homeland one more time - if they can find a way.

Some Mariel refugees made questionable decisions while adjusting to life in the Midwest in the 1980s. They've all faced discrimination. And all of them have tried to move forward as their pasts continue to haunt them.

The Cubans who immigrated to the United States during the Mariel Boatlift have left Fort McCoy. Some found homes in Wisconsin and got jobs. Some started families. But first, they had to find sponsors.

Fort McCoy was one of four U.S. military installations that housed Cuban refugees after the Mariel Boatlift in 1980. Almost 15,000 Cubans lived there that summer and fall while waiting to connect with family members or find sponsors.

People who left Cuba to come to the United States as part of the Mariel Boatlift in 1980 share their experiences of traveling across the sea and their first memories stepping ashore in Florida.

The Cuban revolution promised people a better life: free health care, schools and subsidized housing for everyone. But this came at a cost - and some weren't willing to pay the price. So they began leaving the country in the 1960s, and it all came to a head in 1980.

When Fidel Castro took control of Cuba in 1959, some feared the shift to communism and left almost right away. Decades later, the changes brought on by the revolution would also lead to almost 15,000 Cuban refugees coming to Wisconsin as part of the Mariel Boatlift of 1980.

Enrique More has roots in La Crosse. He's been a part of the city's music scene for decades, most notably playing with Mr. Blink. Wisconsin is his home. But it didn't feel much like home when he first got here, when he was one of a handful of Cubans to settle in La Crosse after arriving in 1980 as part of the Mariel Boatlift.

In 1980, nearly 15,000 Cuban refugees were sent to Fort McCoy in Wisconsin. They left their homes as part of the Mariel boatlift mass exodus. In this podcast, meet the Cubans who stayed in Wisconsin and find out what their lives have been like as they live in legal limbo.

Introducing: Uprooted

The Final Map