This wave of Cuban immigrants included middle merchants and management, landlords, mid-level professionals and a significant representation of skilled unionized workers.

The constituents of these different classes looked on warily at the closures of private universities and schools in 1961 since these actions played into their fears that the government would take over the education of their children.

Various outlets, including the Miami Herald and Time Magazine, reported that Castro and his followers intended to terminate parental rights, assume custody of all Cuban children, prohibit religion and indoctrinate them into communism.

[1] The CIA-backed Radio Swan station asserted that the Cuban government was planning to remove children from their parents and send them to the Soviet Union.

[1] These rumors, combined with the pre-existing worry instilled by the Spanish Civil War (during which children were evacuated to other countries), made the patria potestad hoax impossible to contain.

It had already reached the Catholic church and the general public, and opponents of the now openly communist regime who did not migrate during the first wave of the exodus began sending their children off to perceived safety.

An October meeting brought the influx of Cuban refugees in Miami to the attention of the White House, with particular focus on what appeared to be a high number of unaccompanied minors wandering the city.

Shortly after, Tracy Voorhees – a veteran U.S. government official who was serving as the president's Personal Representative for Cuban Refugees – reported that, though the issue was not large in number, it had still been highly publicized and, therefore, the administration needed to be seen taking action.

But, towards the end of 1960, President Eisenhower approved $1 million to help, with specific funds allocated to the creation of a Cuban emergency refugee center.

To further their efforts, and ultimately further the smear campaign of Castro's Cuba, Voorhees recommended the administration further their involvement, this time taking specific interest in caring for the Cuban refugee children.

Instead of visas, children received waivers in the form of simple letters signed by Walsh effectively gaining them entrance into the country.

In September of that year, the State Department began allowing Cuban child refugees to apply for visa waivers on behalf of their parents.

These individuals then wrote checks out to the W. Henry Smith Travel Agency in Havana, which helped fund the children's flights to the United States.

As the need for shelters grew as the children arrived in increasing numbers, several prominent locations were converted to house them, including Camp Matecumbe, the Opa-locka Airport Marine barracks.

Special homes, authorized by state officials and operated by Cuban refugees, were formed in several hundred cities across the nation including Albuquerque, New Mexico; Lincoln, Nebraska; Wilmington, Delaware; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Jacksonville and Orlando, Florida.

On March 9 of the same year, the Miami Herald's Gene Miller also ran a story about the event, in which he coined the term Operation Pedro Pan.

[7] The American portion of Operation Peter Pan ended when all air traffic between the United States and Cuba ceased in the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962.

[10] This film elaborates on the many things for children to do within their current situation, including but not limited to learning, playing, and attending religious ceremonies.

A study from Yale University investigated if the Pedro Pan population shows persistent differences in their physical and mental health, and attachment secondary to childhood separation from their family.

[7] Stories of abandoned Pedro Pans deepened Anti-Castro sentiment within the Americas, connecting the rise of Communism and the separation of families.

[16] Despite this, several former CIA agents have admitted to editing, printing and distributing copies of a fabricated Patria Potestad law that stated the revolutionary government was about to abolish parental rights.

[citation needed] This, along with fake news about threats to the Cuban family broadcast on CIA-operated Radio Swan, helped fuel the exodus of unaccompanied children.