Latest news with #CubanAdjustmentAct
Miami Herald
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Elian González breaks silence 25 years later: ‘I'm going through difficult times'
Elian González had some surprising things to say on state television as the Cuban government commemorates the 25th anniversary of his return to the island from Miami. The story of Elian González made international headlines in the early 2000s, heightening tensions between the Cuban exile community and the regime in Havana. González praised the pivotal role of the late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, who ordered mass rallies across the island. What did Elian González say? González said he has no regrets about remaining in Cuba, although he hinted that, like other Cubans, he may be enduring hardship due to the severe economic crisis gripping the country. 'What has never crossed my mind is regretting being in Cuba and growing up with my family. I may be going through difficult times, whatever the problem may be, but Fidel taught me to fight, to push forward,' he said Thursday on state television during an event at the Fidel Castro Ruz Center in Havana. González also expressed his 'gratitude' to the late revolutionary leader 'for giving me a place in the hearts of Cubans.' He added, 'What can never be in doubt is my commitment to the people of Cuba.' According to Cuban state news, González criticized the Cuban Adjustment Act, claiming it was the reason his mother left the island on a perilous sea journey. A victory for Castro's regime? The Cuban government celebrates June 28 each year as the anniversary of Elian González's return, describing him as a child 'kidnapped in Miami by distant relatives in collusion with the Cuban-American mafia.' When he was 6, González was rescued off the coast of the United States after his mother died during a shipwreck of the boat they had taken to flee Cuba. The child survived by clinging to an inner tube. His case drew global attention as a bitter legal and political battle unfolded. In the end, U.S. federal agents raided the Miami home of González's relatives and forcibly removed him under orders from the Department of Justice to return him to his father in Cuba — a move that the Cuban government has since celebrated as a symbolic victory. The Associated Press photo capturing the moment agents found the boy in a closet in his relatives' home became world famous and earned a Pulitzer Prize. The photographer, Alan Diaz, died in 2018. Since his return to Cuba, González's life has been periodically covered by the state-run media, often to highlight Fidel Castro's legacy. In 2023, the 'raft boy' was elected to Cuba's National Assembly as a representative for Cárdenas, the municipality in Matanzas province where he lives. Around that time, González told CNN he hoped to help improve relations between Havana and Washington. 'I think I could be a visible face for the American people and help the people of Cuba and the people of the United States become closer,' he said. 'And not just the people, but that our governments reach an understanding, and remove all the barriers that exist between us.'
Boston Globe
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Trump administration tells immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela they have to leave
DHS said that the letters informed people that both their temporary legal status and their work permit was revoked 'effective immediately.' It encouraged any person living illegally in the U.S. to leave using a mobile application called CBP Home and said that individuals will receive travel assistance and $1,000 upon arrival at their home country. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The department did not provide details on how the U.S. government will find or contact the people once they leave or how they will receive the money. Advertisement Trump promised during his presidential campaign to end what he called the 'broad abuse' of humanitarian parole, a long-standing legal tool presidents have used to allow people from countries where there's war or political instability to enter and temporarily live in the U.S. Trump promised to deport millions of people who are in the U.S. illegally, and as president he has been also ending legal pathways created for immigrants to come to the U.S. and to stay and work. Advertisement His decision Immigration advocates expressed concern over the Trump administration decision to send the notices to more than a half million individuals. It 'is a deeply destabilizing decision,' said Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president of Global Refuge, a nonprofit organization that supports refugees and migrants entering the U.S. 'These are people that played by the rules... they passed security screenings, paid for their own travel, obtained work authorization, and began rebuilding their lives.' Zamora, a 34-year-old Cuban mother who arrived under the sponsorship of an American citizen in September 2023, said she fears deportation. However, for now, she has no plans to leave the country. 'I am afraid of being detained while my son is at school,' said Zamora, who asked to be identified only by her last name out of fear of being deported. 'I'm afraid to return to Cuba, the situation is very difficult there.' Zamora said she has sought other ways to remain in the U.S. legally through the Cuban Adjustment Act, a law that allows Cubans who have arrived legally to the U.S. and meet certain requirements to apply to get a green card. Although her process has not been approved yet, she is hopeful it may allow her to remain legally in the U.S. In the meantime, she said that she will stop working at a clinic if needed. 'I'm going to wait quietly without getting into trouble,' the Cuban said. Advertisement
Time of India
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
500,000 immigrants affected: Trump admin revokes humanitarian parole for these 4 nations; tells them to leave US
The Trump administration has begun notifying hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela that their temporary permission to live and work in the United States has been revoked, and they must leave the country immediately, according to a statement by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Thursday. The notices are being sent via email to individuals who entered the country under a humanitarian parole program initiated by the Biden administration in October 2022. Approximately 532,000 people from the four nations had been granted two-year permits under the program, which allowed them to live and work in the US with financial sponsorship. DHS confirmed that the letters state their work authorization and legal status are now 'effective immediately' terminated. The agency encouraged those affected to leave voluntarily through a mobile application called CBP Home, promising a travel stipend and a $1,000 payment upon return to their home country. However, the department offered no details on how it would track departures or distribute payments. The decision follows the US Supreme Court's ruling last month that allowed the Trump administration to dismantle the program, which the former president had vowed to eliminate, calling it an example of 'broad abuse' of the humanitarian parole system. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like This Wrinkle Cream Keeps Selling Out At Costco (Find Out Why) The Skincare Magazine Undo 'This is a deeply destabilizing decision,' said Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president of Global Refugee. 'These are people that played by the rules... they passed security screenings, paid for their own travel, obtained work authorization, and began rebuilding their lives.' Zamora, a 34-year-old Cuban mother who came to the US in 2023 under the program, said she's afraid of being detained while her child is at school. 'I'm afraid to return to Cuba, the situation is very difficult there,' she said. Zamora is seeking permanent residency through the Cuban Adjustment Act but has not yet received approval. 'I'm going to wait quietly without getting into trouble,' she added.
Politico
04-06-2025
- Politics
- Politico
Big trouble for the Cuban exception
POWER OUTAGE — Until Friday, Cuban immigrants occupied a special place in American immigration policy. From the Mariel boatlift to 'Wet Foot, Dry Foot' policy to the sheer transformation of Miami as the so-called capital of Latin America, over the past 60 years Cubans have played a key role in rewriting the rules on immigration — sometimes carving out their own exceptions in U.S. immigration law. But a Supreme Court majority last Friday may have dealt a lasting blow to the traditionally privileged status of Cuban immigrants. The Trump administration now has the green light to end the Biden-era Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela (CHNV) parole program and eliminate the legal status of over 500,000 immigrants, including Cubans. Never before have so many Cubans been on the verge of losing status — let alone being deported en masse. Cubans, via the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, have long enjoyed their own specific path to citizenship; after living in the United States for a year, Cubans are fast-tracked towards obtaining permanent residency. And Cubans under that law have been exempted from other provisions of the Immigration and Naturalization Act. Politicians have tried (and largely failed) to replicate those special protections for other immigrant groups — most recently for Venezuelans. But none of those groups have achieved the political clout and influence needed to secure the kinds of benefits Cubans have enjoyed for nearly six decades under U.S. law. The Supreme Court's recent decision allowing the Trump administration to cancel the parole program puts in limbo tens of thousands of Cubans who hadn't been in the U.S. long enough to qualify for the Cuban Adjustment Act's protections. That's in addition to the 40,000 Cubans with deportation orders against them. It's not the first time Cubans have seen their unique status in immigration law pared back. In 2017, the Obama administration nixed the Clinton-era 'Wet Foot, Dry Foot' policy which granted Cuban refugees who were intercepted on U.S. soil automatic asylum as part of its efforts to reopen diplomatic relations with Havana. And the first Trump administration opted to enforce a deal with Cuba to accept deportation flights from the U.S., even as it reinstated other sanctions and measures against the island's communist government. But the scale of the potential deportations now is expansive — and tinged in irony. After helping deliver Florida twice to Trump, Cubans have never had more influence in Washington. Cuban exile politicians are at the peak of their power. Marco Rubio, the former senator and son of Cuban immigrants, is one of the most influential American diplomats in recent memory, the first individual since Henry Kissinger to hold the national security adviser and secretary of state positions at the same time. On Capitol Hill, Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.), another Cuban American, is the vice chair of the House Appropriations Committee and wields considerable influence within a narrow GOP House majority over the flow of legislation. That influence has only magnified with House Republicans' slim majority. The 'crazy Cubans' –– as Speaker Mike Johnson has dubbed Díaz-Balart and his South Florida colleagues Reps. María Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gímenez –– have wielded their influence in concert with Rubio's policy priorities. But the Trump administration has been adamant about making good on Trump's vow of the largest mass deportation in U.S. history — with the White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller pressing Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to ramp up arrests to 3,000 a day and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pushing forward on canceling temporary programs, including CHNV. Deporting the thousands of Cubans suddenly out of status could go a long way toward reaching the numbers Trump promised on the stump. Only there's one big problem: Miami's Cuban voters are overwhelmingly Trump voters. Florida International University's Cuba poll released just after the 2024 election showed a staggering 68 percent of Cuban Americans cast their ballots for Trump, nearly twice as many as in 2016. To cast out Cubans would be political suicide for the GOP and could cost them in the midterms, says Dr. Eduardo Gamarra, a professor and pollster at FIU. 'Now there are more Republicans than there are Democrats in Miami Dade County, it may have reached its apex,' Gamarra said, while cautioning that 'these shifts are not permanent.' In the wake of the Supreme Court decision, the South Florida Cubans in Congress will attempt to thread the needle between breaking with Trump on deportations and defending the Cuban population that delivered them their political power. For their part, they are vowing to fight to preserve Cubans' pathways to citizenship. Diaz-Balart wrote on X shortly after the Supreme Court ruling that they are working with the Trump administration 'to make the case and find a permanent solution for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans who have fled political crises and cannot return to their countries of origin because of legitimate claims of persecution.' More specifically, the South Florida members are holding out hope they'll convince the Trump administration to keep the Cuban exception. 'They need to be treated a little bit differently,' Gímenez told reporters at a press conference in Miami following the court ruling. 'They're a part of our community, they're part of our economy and they need to be treated as such,' Gimenez added. 'So we're going to be looking for some adjustments to what the enforcement mechanism of this ruling is going to be.' Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@ Or contact tonight's authors at abianco@ and ebazail@ or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @_alibianco and @ebazaileimil. What'd I Miss? — House GOP gets megabill's official price tag: $2.4T: Congress' nonpartisan scorekeeper released its full price tag today of the tax and spending package House Republicans passed last month, predicting that the measure would grow the federal deficit by $2.4 trillion over a decade. The Congressional Budget Office's forecast comes days after Elon Musk, freshly departed from serving as head of the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency, blasted the measure as 'massive,' 'outrageous' and 'a pork-filled disgusting abomination.' Just before the new numbers were released this morning, Musk and CBO both came up as topics of discussion during the House GOP's weekly closed-door meeting. — Trump calls for scrapping debt limit, in megabill twist: President Donald Trump today said the debt limit should be 'entirely scrapped,' throwing another wrench into negotiations around the GOP's 'big beautiful' bill. Trump's comment on Truth Social comes as Republicans scramble to pass Trump's new round of tax cuts and other policy priorities in a sweeping legislative package that would raise, rather than eliminate, the cap on the federal government's borrowing authority. Republicans are facing a potential August deadline to raise the debt limit before the U.S. starts to default on its financial obligations. — Putin will 'respond' to surprise Ukraine drone strikes, Trump says: President Donald Trump said today he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the recent Ukrainian drone attack that destroyed more than 40 Russian aircrafts and the Russian leader said he will respond to Ukraine's drone strikes. It remains unclear exactly how Russia would respond. In a post to Truth Social, Trump said his phone call with Putin lasted about one hour and 15 minutes. In addition to the most recent Ukrainian attack, Trump said, the two also discussed 'various other attacks that have been taking place by both sides,' as well as Iran and a general understanding that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. The post was later deleted. — Confirmation process begins for Trump's first judicial nominees: The Senate Judiciary Committee is launching the confirmation process for the first judicial nominations of President Donald Trump's second term. The panel this morning opened a hearing for Whitney D. Hermandorfer, Trump's nominee for the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, and four other district court judges in Missouri: Maria A. Lanahan, Cristian M. Stevens and Zachary M. Bluestone for the Eastern District, and Joshua M. Divine for the Eastern and Western Districts. It is a continuation of a major priority of Trump's first term: applying a conservative slant across the federal bench. The Senate confirmed hundreds of judges the last time Trump was in office. The Biden administration also confirmed hundreds of judges, leaving relatively few vacancies for Trump to fill upon his return to the White House in January. According to data from the U.S. courts, there are currently about 49 existing vacancies. AROUND THE WORLD HIT BACK — Ontario Premier Doug Ford is urging Canada's prime minister to retaliate against the United States after it doubled tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. But Prime Minister Mark Carney is holding off, arguing he's close to striking a new trade deal with President Donald Trump. Ford and Carney aired their clashing approaches today, as the Ontario premier accused the PM of being bullied by the U.S. 'You're either standing up for Canada and protecting people's jobs, their livelihoods,' Ford told reporters in Toronto today. 'Or you sit back and get steamrolled. That's not what I'm going to do.' Carney declined to comment on Ford's remarks as he left his national caucus meeting. Ford told CNN's 'The Situation Room' earlier today that he 'highly recommended to the prime minister directly that we slap another 25 percent on top of our tariffs, to equal President Trump's tariffs on our steel.' Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday that doubled tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to the U.S., from 25 percent to 50 percent. In March, Canada imposed 25 percent reciprocal tariffs on a list of U.S. steel and aluminum products totaling C$15.6 billion. DANGEROUS HISTORY — The city of Cologne in western Germany is undergoing a major evacuation following the discovery of three unexploded bombs from World War II. Authorities on Monday found the munitions — two 1,000 kilogram bombs and one 500 kilogram bomb, all manufactured in the U.S. — in the central district of Deutz, on the eastern bank of the Rhine. Beginning at 8 a.m. today, approximately 20,500 residents were evacuated from their homes and workplaces. The evacuation zone covers the entire historic district, 58 hotels, three Rhine bridges, the town hall, the Deutz railway station — located across the river from the city center — as well as several museums, a hospital and two care homes. Cologne's iconic cathedral lies just outside the danger zone. Germany's national rail operator Deutsche Bahn warned of widespread disruption, with many train services diverted or canceled. Road traffic in and around the city has also been heavily affected. Nightly Number RADAR SWEEP CRAFT CLOSURES — As Joann Fabric and Crafts expects to finish closing its almost 800 stores by the weekend, crafters across the country are mourning the loss of a textile giant. The Atlantic's Andrea Valdez reports that the recent closures mark an ever-widening gap between crafting materials and their makers. While more generalized retailers and Amazon continue to sell craft supplies, Valdez highlights Joann's characteristic affordability, accessibility and the community experience of entering the store to seek out the perfect colors or textures for upcoming projects. Parting Image Marisa Guerra Echeverria contributed to this newsletter. Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here.
Time of India
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Cuban-Americans no longer protected as Trump deportation policy bites hard
In March 2025, federal agents detained 71-year-old Tomás Hernández outside his residence in the Miami area. Authorities allege that Hernández, who previously held senior positions within Cuba's foreign intelligence agency, concealed his affiliations with the Communist Party during his US residency application process. Cuban-American community reacts to deportation measures The apprehension of Hernández and other former Cuban officials has elicited mixed reactions within South Florida's Cuban-American community. While some view the actions as necessary for national security, others perceive them as a betrayal, especially given the community's historical support for Republican policies. Also read: Donald Trump's immigration crackdown backfires as key Republican voter base feels the heat from program's termination Revocation of humanitarian protections for Cuban migrants In a significant policy shift, the Trump administration revoked temporary humanitarian parole for approximately 300,000 Cuban migrants in March 2025. This move has left many individuals vulnerable to detention and potential deportation, disrupting the lives of those who had previously been granted protection under earlier immigration frameworks. Live Events Among those affected is Eliéxer Márquez, known as El Funky, a Cuban rapper recognized for his anti-communist anthem "Patria y Vida." Despite his vocal support for President Trump, Márquez received notice in April 2025 to depart the US within 30 days, underscoring the broad reach of the administration's immigration policies. Since the enactment of the Cuban Adjustment Act in 1966, Cuban immigrants have benefited from expedited pathways to US residency. This preferential treatment distinguished them from other migrant groups, fostering a sense of security that is now being challenged by recent policy changes. Also read: Trump touts immigration crackdown despite concerns about due process The intensified deportation efforts have sparked political debates, with some Republican leaders advocating for stricter enforcement against former Cuban state agents. Conversely, grassroots organizations and Democratic figures have criticized the measures, arguing they undermine the trust and contributions of the Cuban-American community. Despite policy intentions, logistical hurdles persist. The US currently conducts one deportation flight to Cuba per month, accommodating approximately 60 individuals. Given the estimated 500,000 Cubans who arrived during the Biden administration without protected status, the deportation process faces significant delays and complications. Also read: US Immigration Crackdown | 350,000 Venezuelans face deportation risk as Trump gets SC nod Activists like Luis Dominguez have taken proactive roles in identifying former Cuban state agents residing in the US. Through platforms like Represores Cubanos, Dominguez has compiled lists of individuals allegedly involved in past human rights abuses, sharing this information with federal authorities to aid enforcement actions.
