Following the death of Arthur McDuffie from multiple skull fractures caused by a blunt object during his arrest by 4 Miami police officers on December 17th , 1979 a trial of the officers led to a not guilty verdict on 17th May. After the verdict approximately 5,000 people attended a protest at the downtown Metro Justice Building, but the protest turned into a riot and three people are killed and at least 23 injured during the first night of violence. During the next few days a total of 18 people are killed with 100's of others injured and law and order is resumed when a curfew is implimented from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. together with 3,000 National Guardsmen deployed on the streets.

In what police described as the biggest rescue operation to help illegal immigrants, over five hundred migrants travelling through Mexico, bound for the United States, were discovered crammed into two trucks. The conditions were described as inhumane with a lack of air and no water. The immigrants were discovered in the state of Chiapas in Southern Mexico, and were found by x-ray equipment at a checkpoint. Of the total five hundred and thirteen migrants, thirty two of them were women and four were children.