jessenia acuna says, "how was i supposed to get here if they changed the law? it would have been impossible." most cuban refugees no longer try to reach miami on makeshift rafts in the florida straits. capture and the currents are both risky. they now fly to a latin american country like ecuador then spend months making a trip through land and a half dozen other countries before reaching the texas border. 51,000 arrived here last year, 68% of them through laredo. >> it's a whole transnational human smuggling operation. studies cuban migration patterns at florida international university. well organized? >> very well organized and it's supposed to be the second most profitable illegal network after the illegal trade business. >> reporter: most head to miami. at this refugee resettlement office, we met an drass hernandez. his trip here from cuba took eight months. he told us, "it was a lot of stress air, lot of days without eating," but worth it to him and other cubans, immigrants desperate to start fresh in america and worried they may soon join the back of the