In the early 1960s, law enforcement once again assumed increased significance. In 1959, Fidel Castro took power in Cuba and within two years, the Coast Guard established patrols to aid refugees and to enforce neutrality, interdicting the transportation of men and arms. This responsibility peaked in 1965 due to increased restrictions on immigration from Cuba and then abated until the Mariel Boatlift of 1980.
Boats with Cuban migrants began departing Mariel, Cuba, in April, 1980, after Castro declared the port of Mariel "open." Hundreds of small craft departed Miami and sailed to Mariel, where they loaded up with refugees, in most cases more than the craft was designed to carry safely, and then attempted to return to Miami. What followed became the largest Coast Guard operation ever undertaken in peacetime to that date and is a remarkable example of the Coast Guard's ability to respond to a developing crisis quickly.
Coast Guard resources were sent from all over the Atlantic seaboard to reinforce the taxed Seventh District, and President Jimmy Carter called up 900 reservists to active duty in that District. Coast Guard Auxiliarists also contributed to Coast Guard operations by filling in at various bases, sailing their own vessels and flying their own aircraft to augment the active duty personnel. The President also ordered Navy assets to assist as well. By the time the boatlift came to an end, over 125,000 Cubans had made the journey to the United States and of those only 27 perished at sea, a remarkable example of the effectiveness of the men and women in uniform who responded to the crisis with little to no warning beforehand.
During the early 1970s, an old law enforcement job, drug interception, took on increasing emphasis that continues today. From 1963 through 1979, the Coast Guard seized 304 vessels, confiscated over $4 billion in contraband and made 1,959 arrests. The illegal importation of narcotics continued to grow in the 1980s and 1990s. In an effort to combat this problem the Coast Guard expanded its interdiction efforts. On 9 August 1982 the Department of Defense approved the use of Coast Guard law enforcement detachments on board US Navy vessels during peacetime. The teams conducted law enforcement boardings from Navy vessels for the first time in U.S. history. In 1995 a Coast Guard LEDET seized the F/V Nataly I when the team discovered 24,325 pounds of cocaine hidden on board, making this the largest U.S. maritime seizure of cocaine to date.
Some of the more noteworthy drug seizures included the following. On 1 November 1984 the cutter Clover nabbed the 63-foot yacht Arrikis 150 miles southwest of San Diego. The yacht was loaded with 13 tons of marijuana and was the largest marijuana bust to date on the West Coast. A few days later, on 4 November, USCGC Northwind became the first icebreaker to make a seizure of narcotics when she captured the P/C Alexi I off Jamaica while carrying 20 tons of marijuana. On 8 May 1987 Coast Guard units, including the cutter Ocracoke, made the largest seizure of cocaine by the Coast Guard to date, 1.9 tons. The Coast Guard expanded its drug-interdiction effort with largest counter-narcotics operation in Coast Guard history when Operation Frontier Shield commenced on 1 October 1996. On 28 April 2001 a LEDET assigned to the USS Rodney M. Davis, with later assistance from the Active (based in Port Angeles, WA) made the largest cocaine seizure in maritime history when they boarded and seized the Belizean F/V Svesda Maru 1,500 miles south of San Diego. The fishing vessel was carrying 26,931 pounds of cocaine. These are but a few examples of the Coast Guard's continuing effort to combat the flow of illegal drugs into the United States.
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