100 Days of Trump: Sanctions, Deportations and War on Cuba
Since assuming the presidency, Donald Trump has threatened governments around the world: Denmark, Panama, China – even Canada. But he hasn’t said a word about Cuba. Trump's silence belies a flurry of actions by his administration aimed at overthrowing the island's government.
Trump has given Cuba policy to two Cuban-American hardliners – Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his right-hand man, Mauricio Claver-Carone, the U.S. special envoy for Latin America. Claver-Carone has vowed to ramp up sanctions and has predicted “imminent” regime change in Cuba.
Check out our latest video about Trump’s Cuba policy.
From Day One
On January 14, less than a week before Joe Biden left office, he approved three key measures easing the U.S. government’s economic war on Cuba in exchange for the Cuban government’s release of more than 500 prisoners. The Trump administration overturned all three almost immediately:
Terror designation. Trump overturned Biden’s decision to remove Cuba from the U.S. government’s “State Sponsors of Terrorism” (SSOT) list. There is no evidence that Cuba sponsors terrorism. The designation continues to block Cuba’s access to global financial institutions and upend its foreign trade, fueling the island’s economic nosedive and mass migration to the United States.
Title III. Trump revoked Biden’s suspension of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, a law that allows U.S. claimants whose property was nationalized during the Cuban Revolution to sue companies in U.S. courts for doing business involving that property.
“Restricted entities” list. Marco Rubio reinstated a list of “restricted entities” in Cuba with which U.S. companies and individuals are banned from doing business. The new list now includes Orbit, the state enterprise that handled Western Union remittances. As a result, on February 8, Western Union suspended remittances to Cuba.
For background on the SSOT list, read our article about how Biden embraced Trump’s terror smear, our article forecasting the reversal of Biden’s olive branch and watch this video.
Cuban Immigrants May No Longer Be the Exception
The issue. At least 600,000 Cubans have arrived in the U.S. over the past four years, the biggest emigration wave in Cuban history. Many of these recent arrivals are now in danger of deportation.
Some historical context. Cubans have historically enjoyed privileges not granted to any other immigrant group, especially through the Cuban Adjustment Act, which allows Cuban immigrants who enter the country legally to apply for U.S. residency a year and a day after they arrive. Cuban Americans are the only Latin American voting block that favored Trump in all three of his election bids. But so far, Trump has not exempted Cubans from his war on immigrants.
An abrupt end to Biden’s parole program. Trump suspended the legal status of more than half a million people from four countries – including more than 110,000 Cubans – who arrived in the U.S. via Biden’s “humanitarian parole program.” Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani blocked Trump’s revocation of the parole program, extending the stay of its beneficiaries to the two years they were initially promised.
No more CBP One. Trump also revoked the status of almost a million people who arrived in the U.S. through the CBP One online appointment app, putting many Cubans at risk.
Suspension of green card processing for refugees and asylees. The Department of Homeland Security suspended permanent residency processing of immigrants granted refugee or asylee status while “additional vetting" is conducted. This probably won't affect most Cubans, but those who have not yet applied or are unable to apply for residency via the Cuban Adjustment Act sometimes request political asylum.
Deportations. There have been reports of Cubans detained at their mandatory migration appointments. Some of them are being deported back to Cuba. Under previous agreements, Cuba has continued to welcome deportation flights, including one last week carrying 82 people. However, the two countries have not discussed migration since Trump’s inauguration and his administration recently confirmed it had suspended regular migration talks with Cuba.
Taking Aim at Cuba’s Doctors…and Their Patients
The issue. Last month, the Trump administration escalated attacks on Cuba’s program of global health cooperation by threatening to deny U.S. visas to government officials from countries receiving Cuban doctors and nurses. Dozens of countries currently welcome Cuban health professionals, who the White House brands “victims of human trafficking.”
Fact check. Cuban healthcare professionals volunteer to serve abroad on medical missions, where they are paid many times more than the small salaries they earn back home. The bilateral accords most often include payments to the Cuban government that have become a major source of funds that it says are needed to finance free healthcare services in the country. Cuban doctors and nurses often provide services to the poorest of the poor in Africa, the Caribbean and elsewhere who otherwise would be deprived of health care.
The Caribbean’s response. Caribbean leaders have been united in defying U.S. threats and defending the missions, even during Marco Rubio’s recent visit to the region. Listen to Caribbean leaders stand their ground here.
Could It Get Worse?
According to Claver-Carone, it will.
He has warned the U.S. could be “very creative” in finding new ways to overthrow the Cuban government.
“In 2019, the policy was maximum pressure, but we never got to maximum pressure,” he said recently. “We didn't even get to 50% of maximum pressure. There's a whole bunch of stuff to go.”
“There's things that may seem upsetting, disruptive, etc. But honestly, if you don't do it, it doesn't work. So we have to be all in. Go big or go home.” Watch his recent statements.
Claver-Carone’s Florida allies seem to agree.
Cuban-born Rep. Carlos Giménez (R-FL) visited Guantanamo Bay prison last month, calling it “the only free spot in the entire island.” The irony of describing as “free” a notorious concentration camp seemed to escape Giménez, who said the visit inspired him to advocate for imposing harsher sanctions on Cuba.
After the trip, he asked Trump to impose punitive tariffs against countries receiving Cuban doctors. He also requested the deportation from the U.S. of dozens of “Castro regime agents” including former employees of Cuba’s health, education and legal systems.
Giménez hasn't stopped there. He has demanded a halt to all remittances to Cuban families and has joined Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) in calling for a total banon U.S. travel by U.S. nationals to Cuba.
A travel ban would hurt countless families in the United States and in Cuba. See what Cubans on the island think about it.
Trump’s Escalating War on Cuba
U.S. blocks Cuban scientists from accessing medical databases. The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) has barred scientists from six “countries of concern” from accessing 21 biomedical databases – a vast network of vital healthcare resources related to an array of conditions from Alzheimer’s to cancer. The ban impacts Cuba, China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela and North Korea.
U.S. attempts to scare ships away from Cuba. The U.S. Coast Guard increased security requirements this month for ships planning to visit U.S. ports after docking in Cuba, citing the island’s inclusion on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. U.S. law already forbids ships from anchoring in U.S. ports if they have docked in Cuba in the past 180 days.
Cubans included in rumored travel ban. Multiple media outlets have reported the Trump administration has drafted a ban on travel to the United States for citizens of Cuba and ten other countries. Under the ban, the U.S. would stop issuing visas for all travelers from these countries, listed as “red.” Other countries listed as “orange” would face visa restrictions, while “yellow” countries would have 60 days to address certain “concerns” or risk being moved to one of the other categories.
Cuba regime-change programs survive Musk’s cuts. After DOGE's review of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) operations worldwide, many programs aimed at regime change in Cuba, such as Radio and TV Martí, have had their funds restored. A recent piece in The American Prospect by Daniel Boguslaw looks into how Rubio, despite publicly endorsing DOGE’s budget cuts, has quietly kept money flowing to Cuba regime-change programs linked to his political allies in South Florida.