logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2023
54m 36s

The Entry Fiction

NPR
About this episode
When President Carter promised to welcome the men and women arriving on the Mariel boatlift with "an open heart and open arms," he had referred to them as refugees. But technically speaking, they weren't refugees. They were classified as entrants, an immigration status with a peculiar legal standing in the United States. While entrants are physically allowed to enter the country, legally they're still at the border, asking to come in. Their presence in the country is known as a legal fiction — specifically, the "entry fiction." So even as Cubans were disembarking boats in droves through the summer of 1980, they were officially still floating off the coast of Key West. And this immigration status followed them to where they went next: an army base in rural Arkansas. In episode 4, the curious case of the militarized border in the middle of the Ozark Mountains. Want to hear the next episode of White Lies a week before everyone else? Sign up for Embedded+ at plus.npr.org/embedded.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy
Up next
Feb 2023
The Pen
On May 18, 1980, a man named Genaro Soroa-Gonzalez arrived in Key West from the port of Mariel. With no family waiting to sponsor him, he was sent by plane to a resettlement camp at an army base. There he was interviewed by the INS and, a few days later, he boarded another plane, ... Show More
43m 26s
Mar 2023
The Trial
In Episode 6, we sneak into the graveyard of the Atlanta federal penitentiary with a radical peace activist to learn more about what happened in the prison in late 1984. A peaceful protest by detainees held in the Atlanta pen resulted in a violent crackdown, and one of the detain ... Show More
41m 5s
Mar 2023
The List
Since we began reporting this story, we've been after a list. A secret list. On it are the names of 2,746 people whom the US government deemed excludable, including the men on the roof. The government has kept this list so secret that at one point it went so far as to classify it ... Show More
48m 25s
Recommended Episodes
May 26
Episode 1020: (Day 17) The body under the staircase - Richard Satchwell murder trial
The jury at the murder trial of Richard Satchwell has been told that they will have three options: to convict him of murder, of manslaughter, or to acquit him.Justice Paul McDermott in his charge to the jury told them they will enter their deliberations as independent people with ... Show More
26m 30s
Mar 2025
The Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Part II
A manhunt is launched for MLK’s killer, James Earl Ray. After his capture he pleads guilty. With no trial the world won’t hear the facts of the case laid out in court, giving rise to decades of conspiracy theories that even the King family came to believe.See omnystudio.com/liste ... Show More
41m 39s
Apr 30
Murder in the Moonlight - Ep. 5: When It All Falls Apart
One suspect is freed, another makes a surprising choice, and an investigator is accused of planting evidence. This episode originally published on March 3, 2025. 
25m 36s
May 8
Within Arms Reach
This episode originally aired January 31, 2019. A man accused of killing his estranged wife insisted she committed suicide. Investigators said it was murder. The evidence was interpreted differently by the defense and prosecution. It was up to the jury to decide. Learn more about ... Show More
25m 39s
Aug 2024
Season 3: The Killing Fields of L.A.
In 1995, a Cambodian refugee was gunned down in an alley in L.A.'s Chinatown. But this wasn't a typical murder. The victim was Haing Ngor, an Oscar-winning actor and humanitarian. Many Cambodians believe Ngor was assassinated over his role in The Killing Fields – a film that depi ... Show More
2m 54s
Jul 2024
The Pioneer
When a pioneer and one of his companions are gunned down in cold blood while prospecting for silver in the great American west, the sole survivor of the attack is quick to blame a group of Native Americans for the crime... but evidence emerges that raises questions about whether ... Show More
30m 52s
Jan 2025
Why Did It Take Decades To See Alleged Evidence Of Diddy's Involvement In The Murder Of 2Pac?
How far would someone go to keep their secrets hidden—or flaunt them instead? In 2009, Dwayne Keefe D. Davis claimed Sean "Diddy" Combs allegedly placed a bounty on Tupac Shakur and Suge Knight. Yet, for over a decade, this bombshell confession languished in the shadows. Now, wit ... Show More
9m 49s
Nov 2021
The Next Call with David Ridgen: Episode 2 in the case of Terrie Dauphinais
“Homefront”: David digs into the original investigation into Terrie’s murder. Was anything missed? And what did one of the children see? 
43m 32s