Recently arrived Freedom Flight refugees crowd into a processing area of the Freedom Tower to sign up for the services offered as part of the U.S.' s Cuban Refugee Resettlement program, around 1967. THE JUAN CLARK COLLECTION

Cuban refugees disembarked from a chartered DC8 in a program that brought 1,000 Cubans a week in what became known as the Freedom Flights. Here they are greeted at Miami International Airport by immigration workers assigned to make them feel welcome in the late 1960s. THE JUAN CLARK COLLECTION

Cuban refugees, including the wheelchair-bound, who arrived in the U.S. during the Freedom Flights wait for processing at Miami's Freedom Tower in the late 1960s. THE JUAN CLARK COLLECTION

A flight receptionist, assigned to greet the arriving Freedom Flights Cuban refugees at Miami International Airport and make them feel welcome, holds an arriving baby in her arms, circa 1966. THE JUAN CLARK COLLECTION

An unidentified group of Cuban refugees who arrived in the U.S. through the Freedom Flights stand in front of the long-gone Freedom House on the grounds of Miami International Airport. THE JUAN CLARK COLLECTION

The Freedom House, the building on the grounds of Miami International Airport that served Freedom Flights Cubans who were to be relocated to other parts of the U.S. JUAN CLARK COLLECTION

Cuban refugees who arrived on the first freedom flight on December 1, 1965 board buses at Miami International Airport for processing at Opa-Locka Airport. HERALD FILE PHOTO

Rebeca and Jose Anorga, along with daughter Rebeca (left), were photographed coming off the first Freedon Flight that landed in Miami on December 1, 1965.

The Anorga family of Hollywood in 2006 : Rebeca Alvarez, Jose Anorga Jr., Rebeca DeLeon, dog-"Coki", Rebeca Anorga, Javier DeLeon, and Jose Anorga. Rebeca and Jose Anorga along with daughter Rebeca Alvarez (upper left) were photographed coming off the plane December 1, 1965 in the first Freedon Flight. WALTER MICHOT / MIAMI HERALD STAFF

Cubans refugees arriving at Miami International Airport on board the first Freedom Flight on Dec. 1965 PROVIDED BY THE HISTORICAL MUSEUM OF SOUTHERN FLORIDA

Cuban refugees on board the first Freedom Flight arrive at Miami International Airport on Dec. 1, 1965 to a sea of relatives and reporters awaiting the arrival of the historic flight. PROVIDED BY THE HISTORICAL MUSEUM OF SOUTHERN FLORIDA

Rolando Llanes holds his Cuban passport that he used when he arrived in Miami in 1968 with his father and mother, Arturo and Maria Luisa, aboard one of the Freedom Flights. MARICE COHN BAND / MIAMI HERALD STAFF

Arturo Llanes, center, his wife, Maria Luisa Llanes, and son, Rolando, left Cuba on the Freedom Flights on April 25, 1968. MARICE COHN BAND / MIAMI HERALD STAFF

The Llanes family's Cuban passports. From the left are Rolando Llanes, his mother, Maria Luisa, and father Arturo Llanes. MARICE COHN BAND / MIAMI HERALD STAFF

The Llanes family's U.S. Cuban Refugee Center Registration Card that they received upon arrival to the U.S. in 1968. MARICE COHN BAND / MIAMI HERALD STAFF