Many members of the Mariel boatlift were met with suspicion by the Cuban American community already living in the United States. One reason for this was the LGBTQ associations with the exile movement were met with hostility by the portion of the American public that was anti-LGBTQ and they worried that it would worsen their position in the United States. Along similar reasoning, there was concern about the alleged criminal nature of the so-called Marielitos, because of Cuba's dispersion of social undesirables into the exile population.