- Title: Cubans lament end of American dream as Trump overhauls migration policy
- Date: 24th March 2025
- Summary: HAVANA, CUBA (MARCH 24, 2025) (REUTERS) MALECON AVENUE NEXT TO THE SEA, WITH EL MORRO LIGHTHOUSE IN THE BACKGROUND / PEOPLE AND TRAFFIC PASSING BY TRAFFIC ON MALECON AVENUE AND CITY BUILDINGS IN THE BACKGROUND PERSON FISHING, CHATTING AT MALECON VARIOUS OF RESIDENT, NAYDIN HERNANDEZ, AT MALECON, SINGING AND PRAYING TO THE VIRGIN OF REGLA, SEA GODDESS YEMAYA, ASKING TO BE R
- Embargoed:
- Keywords: Cubans Trump USA migration
- Location: HAVANA, CUBA
- City: HAVANA, CUBA
- Country: Venezuela
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,South America / Central America,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001135624032025RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Naydin Hernandez stood on Havana's waterfront Malecon boulevard on Monday (March 24), in tears and praying after her dream of joining her daughter in the United States appeared to be over.
"God knows I miss her," said Hernandez of her 21-year-old daughter.
Hernandez had applied for entry under a "parole" program launched by Democratic former President Joe Biden that allowed migrants with a sponsor to temporarily reside and work in the United States.
But she said her hopes were surely dashed after the administration of Republican President Donald Trump confirmed on Friday that it would end the program and revoke the temporary legal status of 530,000 Cubans,
Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans in the United States.
A draft Federal Register notice called the program ineffective and said it had pushed the bounds of legality.
The announcement has sown confusion and heartbreak among many residents of the communist-run Caribbean island, suffering through an ongoing economic crisis and long accustomed to policies that favored their entry into the United States over other nationalities.
Upwards of 700,000 Cubans entered the U.S. during the four years of the Biden administration, according to Customs and Border Protections and Department of Homeland Security tallies. Of those, it is not clear how many enrolled in other programs that provide another form of protection or legal status. But many such programs, including ones designed to facilitate a path to citizenship for Cubans, were frozen by the Trump
administration in February and placed under review.
On Monday, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said the U.S. had tempted Cubans to migrate then turned them back, calling it an "act of cruel cynicism."
Havana-resident Dario Menedez, a 20-year old engineering student, said many he knew had "sacrificed everything" to migrate to the United States. Forcing them to return now, he said, would be unfair.
Cuba's deputy foreign minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio told Reuters earlier this month that any increase in deportations to Cuba would need to be discussed with the island's government under agreements dating back decades.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Rodriguez's post.
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