Heidy Sánchez took her 17-month-old daughter to a routine check-in last April with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Tampa, Fla. During the appointment, federal authorities told her that she was being detained and that her husband should pick up their daughter, who was still breastfeeding.
Two days later, Ms. Sánchez, 44, who worked as a home health aide, was deported.
Ms. Sánchez’s story quickly spread across social media, in part because she is Cuban, a group that had long been treated differently than other immigrants, even when they entered the country illegally.
That has changed under President Trump.
He has repatriated more than 1,600 Cubans in 2025, according to the Cuban government. That is about double the number of Cubans who were repatriated in 2024. And in the years that Mr. Trump has been president, he has sent more Cubans back than his three predecessors.
Those numbers are greater for Cubans who were deported by land into Mexico. Some of them had been in the United States for decades and built families and businesses, but were removed because of an old criminal conviction — say, from Miami’s infamous cocaine cowboys days in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
owhere has the shock of treating Cubans like other migrants been felt more than in Florida, which was shaped in modern times by exiles of the 1959 Cuban Revolution.
Families, businesses and communities that once felt removed from or immune to immigration enforcement now must face it head-on. Some Floridians worry that these deportations could stain the state’s proud Cuban identity, turning older immigrants against newer ones.
Under Mr. Trump, many other countries saw similar increases in repatriation. The difference is that Cubans had not previously been targeted as aggressively for removal. Regular deportation flights to Cuba began in January 2017, under President Barack Obama, paused during the coronavirus pandemic and restarted in 2023.
Many Cubans have also been detained for weeks or months in a facility in the Florida Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz.” At another nearby detention facility, Cuban detainees protested last June by writing “SOS Cuba” on their shirts and spelling out “SOS” with their bodies in the recreation yard.
Legal immigration has also been all but cut out. Mr. Trump enacted a travel ban on 19 countries, including Cuba, and ended a family reunification program. U.S. officials are rejecting visa applications, which can take years to complete. Last month, the Trump administration paused all Cuban immigration cases, including pending naturalization, residency and asylum applications.
“It’s the most sweeping rollback of Cuban migration channels since the Cold War,” said María José Espinosa, the executive director of the Center for Engagement and Advocacy in the Americas, a nonprofit strategy organization based in Washington.
Polls suggest that most Cuban American registered voters, who tend to be Republican, continue to support Mr. Trump, said Michael J. Bustamante, an associate history professor and director of Cuban studies at the University of Miami who studies Cuban American political culture. But he said that he had noticed “a growing amount of unease” throughout the community.
boardatwork1111 on
MFW your average Trumpanzee doesn’t give a shit about your country of origin and only about your skin color: 🤯
nrg68 on
Good!
ldn6 on
🎻
YuckyStench on
I feel like Cubans are a microcosm of most conservative Americans who only associate totalitarianism and authoritarianism with the far left. They let their fear of far left authoritarians be so dogmatic that they don’t recognize when the other side is shifting towards being authoritarian.
The far left does have a massive issue with authoritarians, but so does the far right
nimbybuster on
I mean.
viewless25 on
My heart breaks for these people. Nobody couldve seen this coming. If Trump was planning on doing Mass Deportations he shouldve mentioned it during his campaign
808Insomniac on
Womp womp.
WGSMA on
Fewer potential voters to fight against in the mid terms and the 2029 Presidential Election
I’m a Floridian and Latino so this is personal for me.
# Y’ALL VOTED FOR THIS!
All those tios and abuelas in Miami-Dade and especially Hialeah who cannot wait for their welfare checks. You voted for this!
Everyone in Miami-Dade is nowadays so Whatsapp and Tik Tok brained that no matter how much Jorge Ramos et al report that this is happening, it doesn’t make a dent. Keeping your head under the sand is not the answer!
I do have to wonder how Latinos in South Florida who have supposedly turned against the GOP lately handle this. I don’t have high hopes, but is stories that help show just how voting against yourself matters and why you should not cave to your most primal instincts.
Dull-Photograph6990 on
I thought Cubans were basically granted a visa if they showed up
Xeynon on
I’ll say what I’ve said every time there’s one of these kinds of stories about a Trump-voting demographic – they’re getting what they voted for and I couldn’t be happier for them.
13 Comments
Heidy Sánchez took her 17-month-old daughter to a routine check-in last April with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Tampa, Fla. During the appointment, federal authorities told her that she was being detained and that her husband should pick up their daughter, who was still breastfeeding.
Two days later, Ms. Sánchez, 44, who worked as a home health aide, was deported.
Ms. Sánchez’s story quickly spread across social media, in part because she is Cuban, a group that had long been treated differently than other immigrants, even when they entered the country illegally.
That has changed under President Trump.
He has repatriated more than 1,600 Cubans in 2025, according to the Cuban government. That is about double the number of Cubans who were repatriated in 2024. And in the years that Mr. Trump has been president, he has sent more Cubans back than his three predecessors.
Those numbers are greater for Cubans who were deported by land into Mexico. Some of them had been in the United States for decades and built families and businesses, but were removed because of an old criminal conviction — say, from Miami’s infamous cocaine cowboys days in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
owhere has the shock of treating Cubans like other migrants been felt more than in Florida, which was shaped in modern times by exiles of the 1959 Cuban Revolution.
Families, businesses and communities that once felt removed from or immune to immigration enforcement now must face it head-on. Some Floridians worry that these deportations could stain the state’s proud Cuban identity, turning older immigrants against newer ones.
Under Mr. Trump, many other countries saw similar increases in repatriation. The difference is that Cubans had not previously been targeted as aggressively for removal. Regular deportation flights to Cuba began in January 2017, under President Barack Obama, paused during the coronavirus pandemic and restarted in 2023.
Many Cubans have also been detained for weeks or months in a facility in the Florida Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz.” At another nearby detention facility, Cuban detainees protested last June by writing “SOS Cuba” on their shirts and spelling out “SOS” with their bodies in the recreation yard.
Legal immigration has also been all but cut out. Mr. Trump enacted a travel ban on 19 countries, including Cuba, and ended a family reunification program. U.S. officials are rejecting visa applications, which can take years to complete. Last month, the Trump administration paused all Cuban immigration cases, including pending naturalization, residency and asylum applications.
“It’s the most sweeping rollback of Cuban migration channels since the Cold War,” said María José Espinosa, the executive director of the Center for Engagement and Advocacy in the Americas, a nonprofit strategy organization based in Washington.
Polls suggest that most Cuban American registered voters, who tend to be Republican, continue to support Mr. Trump, said Michael J. Bustamante, an associate history professor and director of Cuban studies at the University of Miami who studies Cuban American political culture. But he said that he had noticed “a growing amount of unease” throughout the community.
MFW your average Trumpanzee doesn’t give a shit about your country of origin and only about your skin color: 🤯
Good!
🎻
I feel like Cubans are a microcosm of most conservative Americans who only associate totalitarianism and authoritarianism with the far left. They let their fear of far left authoritarians be so dogmatic that they don’t recognize when the other side is shifting towards being authoritarian.
The far left does have a massive issue with authoritarians, but so does the far right
I mean.
My heart breaks for these people. Nobody couldve seen this coming. If Trump was planning on doing Mass Deportations he shouldve mentioned it during his campaign
Womp womp.
Fewer potential voters to fight against in the mid terms and the 2029 Presidential Election
Rubio’s Cuban background makes this funnier.
https://preview.redd.it/7po57urybseg1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=649c31f56785c2ef61c7edb8fa734b27fd6241ff
I’m a Floridian and Latino so this is personal for me.
# Y’ALL VOTED FOR THIS!
All those tios and abuelas in Miami-Dade and especially Hialeah who cannot wait for their welfare checks. You voted for this!
Everyone in Miami-Dade is nowadays so Whatsapp and Tik Tok brained that no matter how much Jorge Ramos et al report that this is happening, it doesn’t make a dent. Keeping your head under the sand is not the answer!
I do have to wonder how Latinos in South Florida who have supposedly turned against the GOP lately handle this. I don’t have high hopes, but is stories that help show just how voting against yourself matters and why you should not cave to your most primal instincts.
I thought Cubans were basically granted a visa if they showed up
I’ll say what I’ve said every time there’s one of these kinds of stories about a Trump-voting demographic – they’re getting what they voted for and I couldn’t be happier for them.