Cubans in Florida who long believed they were largely shielded from US deportation policies are discovering that their safety net is essentially gone. The New York Times traces how the Trump administration has sharply escalated removals to Cuba, deporting more than 1,600 people in 2025 alone—about twice that from the prior year, and more than any of President Trump's three most recent predecessors. Some, like Tampa home health aide Heidy Sanchez, are being picked up during routine ICE check-ins and quickly sent back to their home country, even after decades of building families and careers in the US.
The shift marks a major break with decades of special treatment rooted in Cold War politics. Detention in remote Florida facilities has swelled, and legal pathways—from visas to family reunification—have been dramatically narrowed or cut altogether. A University of Miami history professor and Cuban studies expert notes "a growing amount of unease" in the Cuban-American community, which largely leans Republican, as older Cuban exiles who once benefited from generous policies watch newer arrivals face detention and expulsion.
That unease was already present over the summer, when El Pais interviewed some in the Sunshine State's Cuban community. "The same Cubans who have been here for years don't realize that Trump acts the same way as Fidel [Castro] did," a manicurist whose husband was set to be deported at the time told El Pais. A 63-year-old Cuban-American barber added, "Cubans have never known what a democracy is. They need a [strong]man to tell them what to do." One 59-year-old West Palm Beach resident—who saw one of her sons imprisoned in Cuba for political reasons, then another taken by ICE in the US—said, "I'm no longer interested in being a citizen. I'm not going to swear allegiance to this ... I never imagined that, after leaving Cuba, I would experience what we're experiencing here."
NBC News previously noted another group facing a "thorny political position" after the Trump administration moved to pull back temporary legal status for thousands of Cubans early last year: local Republican lawmakers of Cuban heritage now trying to "thread the needle" of criticizing Trump's aggressive actions while simultaneously continuing to support the GOP and slamming past Democratic administrations for immigration issues. Among the area's most famous Cuban Americans: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who lives near Miami.
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