Trump’s immigration crackdown unnerves Cuban exiles long shielded from deportation

Joshua Goodman for the Associated Press reports that President Trump’s mass deportation campaign has affected the Cuban American community.  “[I]t has come as something of a shock to the 2.4 million Cuban-Americans, who strongly backed the Republican twice and have long enjoyed a place of privilege in the U.S. immigration system.”

President Trump has revoked temporary humanitarian parole for about 300,000 Cubans, with many placed in immigrant detention.

AP reports that “[a]mong those facing deportation is a pro-Trump Cuban rapper behind a hit song “Patria y Vida” — “Homeland and Life” — that became the unofficial anthem of anti-communist protests on the island in 2021 and drew praise from the likes of then Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, now Secretary of State. Eliéxer Márquez, who raps under the name El Funky, said he received notice this month that he had 30 days to leave the U.S.”

Cuban migrants for many decades enjoyed almost automatic refugee status.

Support for Trump among likely Cuban-American voters in Miami was at an all-time high on the eve of last year’s election.

KJ