
A demonstrator waves a Trump 2024 flag during a Miami rally in support of the widespread antigovernment protests that swept Cuba in 2021.
Photographer: Eva Marie Uzcategui/AFP/Getty Images
Cuban Exiles Are Losing Their Privileged Migration Status Under Trump
Migrants fleeing the communist island became a powerful force in Republican politics, but now as many as a half million recent arrivals risk deportation.
For decades, Cuban migrants enjoyed exceptional privileges in the US regardless of who was in power. Now President Donald Trump is attacking those benefits.
As Washington waged a Cold War against the communist island 90 miles south of Florida, fleeing Cubans were granted fast-track status that made them the envy of other Latin Americans. Along the way, exiles and their families became a powerful force in Republican politics, helping deliver Florida to Trump in 2016 and 2024. And with Marco Rubio serving as Secretary of State, the community has never had more power.