President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown is prompting some Cuban Americans in Florida to reconsider their support for him and his Republican allies. Families facing detention and deportation are questioning policies they expected would focus on criminals, even as many in the community remain committed to the party ahead of November's elections.
In Miami, Cuban-born immigration lawyer Ismael Labrador has a full appointment book as relatives of detained immigrants seek help preventing deportations. His own cousin was returned to Cuba despite Labrador's efforts to intervene. Cubans have historically benefited from preferential immigration treatment under the Cuban Adjustment Act, legislation dating to the 1960s. Labrador says the arrests have shaken that sense of security, particularly for people without Green Cards.
Labrador was among the 68% of Cuban Americans in Florida who voted for Trump in 2024. He now regrets that choice, saying he believed deportations would target people with criminal records. Trump had repeatedly promised during the campaign to carry out the largest deportation programme in American history. The administration says it is fulfilling that pledge. A White House spokeswoman told the BBC last week that more than 3 million people in the country illegally had left because of his policies.
Footage of immigration arrests has intensified concern, including a case involving Ecuadorean immigrants Grace Calero, 39, and her daughter Giulianna Carriel, 19. Two months ago, they were taken to hospital after another vehicle struck their car while they were travelling to work in Kissimmee. ICE agents arrested them while they were receiving treatment, and both were deported within days. ICE says it targets people who have violated immigration law and are in the country illegally.
Republican Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar has publicly criticised the deportation policy as having gone too far. In a video recorded outside the White House, she said Hispanic voters who helped elect Trump felt betrayed. Salazar, who represents Florida's 27th Congressional district, faces a close contest against Democratic candidate Eliott Rodríguez, another Cuban American.
Yet opposition to particular deportations has not translated into a broad rejection of Republicans among South Florida Cubans. A Florida International University poll released Thursday found that 76% disapproved of deporting Cubans without criminal records, while 68% intended to vote Republican in November. At a recent Miami gathering of Cuban American entrepreneurs, businessman Juan Omar Sixto defended removing people who entered illegally, while acknowledging that he had done so himself six decades earlier.
National polling suggests greater dissatisfaction among Latino voters. An NBC News/Telemundo survey of 8,000 registered Latino voters found that nearly 60% wanted Democrats to control Congress, compared with 35% favouring Republicans. High supermarket and petrol costs are contributing to frustration, alongside immigration cases that have separated families.
One such case is Heydi Sanchez, who left Cuba in 2019 and entered the US illegally through Mexico. After nine months in detention, she was released under an i-220B Order of Supervision, allowing her to remain while still facing possible deportation. She settled in Tampa, worked with autistic children and elderly people, and had a daughter, Kailyn, with her husband following fertility difficulties.
Sanchez was detained after a scheduled ICE appointment was unexpectedly moved forward. Her daughter was handed to her father, a US citizen, and Sanchez was flown to Havana within a day. More than a year later, she remains in Cuba despite support from politicians including Salazar. ICE said Sanchez had chosen removal without her child and left her with a safe relative. Describing their separation, Sanchez said: "It's like the sky fell in and crushed me".
