The Widower's Wife: Fact #14

Forget the fence. Take a cruise.

In the 1990s, immigrants would board day cruises from the Bahamas to Miami to enter the U.S. sans documents. The "Loophole at the Pier," as the New York Times' termed the method of subverting boarder authorities, was effective for years because of a reluctance to bog down the day-cruise industry with lengthy immigration lines. Instead, officers would board the ships and check documents en route. Folks without papers would simply avoid the checkpoint by hanging out at the pool.

Source: The New York Times. http://tinyurl.com/junr8l5