At the same time, ICE arrests increased by 463%.
14ymedio “I can’t go back to Cuba because it’s uninhabitable: there’s no electricity, it’s impossible to find food, and, most importantly, I’m the one supporting my brothers and sisters,” Rosa, an economist in Cuba and a cook in Miami, told the Miami Herald. “However, I can’t get ahead in this country either.” Her case puts a face to a study published this Monday by the Florida newspaper, which confirms the massive drop in green card approvals for Cubans in the US.
Since December 2024, the decline is 99.8%, according to data from the Cato Institute, which emphasizes that the Trump Administration has practically “ended green card concessions for Cubans.” In October 2024, permanent legal residency was approved for 10,000 people from the island, compared to just a few dozen per month at the end of last year.
Simultaneously, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests increased from less than 200 per month at the end of 2024 to about 1,000 per month in the same period of 2025. According to these data, the growth in arrests is 463%.
In January 2026, ICE detained 1,008 Cubans and approved residency for 15 of the 7,086 applicants who filed their applications.
The most extreme contrast occurred precisely in the last month covered by the study: January 2026. That month, ICE detained 1,008 Cubans and approved residency for 15 of the 7,086 applicants who filed their applications. Four were rejected, and the remaining thousands ended up in the vast backlog of Cubans who, like Rosa, are still awaiting a decision that could end very badly for them.
“A necessary factor for mass deportation is taking away people’s right to stay. And the legal immigration system is the path for people to remain in the United States, which is why they’ve targeted it,” David Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, told the Miami Herald . “Once you don’t have legal status and there’s no way for you to stay, you either get deported or you self-deport,” notes the report’s author, who emphasizes that the Trump Administration’s policies attempt to persuade migrants to leave.
The Miami Herald article points out that, although Cubans are among Trump’s most ardent foreign supporters, some of his policies are unpopular. A poll published by the newspaper —conducted by Bendixen & Amandi International and The Tarrance Group—revealed that 79% of Cubans residing in Florida would support a military intervention on the island, while 67% support Trump’s administration.
However, they showed strong rejection (68%) of deportations of undocumented immigrants without criminal records and strongly support (81%) facilitating migration.
The Miami Herald cites Rosa’s case as an example. She arrived from Matanzas in 2023 thanks to one of the Joe Biden Administration’s immigration programs and, after a year in Homestead, with her son’s endorsement, submitted her application to take advantage of the Cuban Adjustment Act.
“I’ve submitted my paperwork, but everything has stalled. This uncertainty is agonizing,” she told the media outlet.
“I’ve submitted my paperwork, but everything has stalled. This uncertainty is agonizing,” she told the media outlet.
The Cato report has detected declines in green card approvals for applicants from all countries, not just Cuba. Overall, the reduction is in half. Furthermore, there has also been a 20% decrease in residency permits granted through family reunification. Even worse is the situation for asylum seekers, whose rates have fallen by 99%.
The delays – also linked to staff cuts, according to Cato – expose hundreds of thousands of people to arrests and possible deportations, as well as constant fear for both them and their employers, who face penalties if they hire undocumented immigrants.
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