Tag Archives: Cubans

Washington Examiner: Judge blocks ICE deportation strategy for paroled immigrants

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A federal judge on Friday blocked Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s “expedited removal” deportation strategy to detain paroled immigrants as quickly as possible.

U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb of the District of Columbia ruled that the Trump administration’s use of expedited removal exceeded the Department of Homeland Security’s legal authority, in addition to being arbitrary and capricious. The order temporarily halts the federal government’s efforts to deport immigrants previously paroled into the United States at a port of entry.

Cobb specifically blocked three actions: a DHS memo dated Jan. 23 directing immigration officials to apply expedited removal as broadly as possible; an ICE directive dated Feb. 18 authorizing officers to consider expedited removal for “paroled arriving aliens”; and a DHS notice dated March 25 terminating the Biden-era parole programs for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans.

The court took issue with the administration’s actions to dismiss parole immigrants’ pending proceedings in immigration court and proceed to arrest them outside the courtroom afterward.

“This case’s underlying question, then, asks whether parolees who escaped oppression will have the chance to plead their case within a system of rules,” Cobb wrote in the 84-page ruling. “Or, alternatively, will they be summarily removed from a country that, as they are swept up at checkpoints and outside courtrooms, often by plainclothes officers without explanation or charges, may look to them more and more like the countries from which they tried to escape?”

Such an incident occurred in June, when New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was arrested for refusing to leave an immigrant whose case was dismissed moments earlier. Lander and his companion were both restrained by masked plainclothes officers as seen in a viral video.

A growing number of Democratic lawmakers have since crafted legislation to bar ICE officers from wearing masks, which the agency says are used to protect its officers from getting doxxed.

Friday’s order is estimated to affect “hundreds of thousands of paroled aliens,” Cobb wrote.

The Trump administration criticized the ruling, saying it defies a Supreme Court ruling from May that upheld the termination of parole status for more than 530,000 illegal immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

“Judge Cobb is flagrantly ignoring the United States Supreme Court, which upheld expedited removals of illegal aliens by a 7-2 majority,” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “This ruling is lawless and won’t stand.”

Whine, bitch, whine!

Judge blocks ICE deportation strategy for paroled immigrants
“This ruling is lawless and won’t stand,” the Department of Homeland Security said in response.
Judge blocks ICE deportation strategy for paroled immigrants

Washington Examiner: Federal court halts Trump’s asylum crackdown at US-Mexico border

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A panel of federal judges blocked President Donald Trump‘s day-one proclamation restricting asylum claims at the United States-Mexico border.

One of the first proclamations of Trump’s second term was Proclamation 10888—Guaranteeing the States Protection Against Invasion. The move forbade migrants from claiming asylum when crossing the border at any place outside a port of entry, and restricted requirements to claim asylum for those entering through said ports of entry. In July, U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss, an Obama appointee, ruled that Trump had exceeded his authority with the move.

The 3-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit put an administrative pause on Moss’s ruling, which was lifted after their decision Friday.

In his 128-page ruling, Moss argued that Trump’s unilateral moves violated the Immigration and Nationality Act, which provides the “sole and exclusive” means for deporting illegal immigrants. Trump’s proclamation had set up “an alternate immigration system” that violated the law, he claimed, rejecting the government’s argument that an out-of-control border necessitated the move.

“Nothing in the INA or the Constitution grants the President … the sweeping authority asserted in the Proclamation and implementing guidance,” Moss wrote. “An appeal to necessity cannot fill that void.”

Though he argued that an emergency doesn’t excuse the move, he seemed to cede that there was, in fact, an emergency.

“The Court recognizes that the Executive Branch faces enormous challenges in preventing and deterring unlawful entry into the United States and in adjudicating the overwhelming backlog of asylum claims of those who have entered the country,” Moss wrote. “But the INA, by its terms, provides the sole and exclusive means for removing people already present in the country.”

The White House was quick to respond, arguing that the ruling violated the recent Supreme Court decision limiting the ability of district judges to issue nationwide injunctions on federal government policies.

“A local district court judge has no authority to stop President Trump and the United States from securing our border from the flood of aliens trying to enter illegally. The judge’s decision — which contradicts the Supreme Court’s ruling against granting universal relief — would allow entry into the United States of all aliens who may ever try to come to in illegally,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement obtained by Politico.

Department of Homeland Security Spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin derided Moss as a “a rogue district judge” who was “threatening the safety and security of Americans.”

The Washington Examiner reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for further comment.

Moss’s ruling is the latest of several major legal moves against Trump’s immigration agenda. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb of the District of Columbia ruled that the Trump administration’s use of expedited removal exceeded the Department of Homeland Security’s legal authority.

Cobb blocked three actions from the Trump administration: a Jan. 23 DHS memo directing immigration officials to apply expedited removal as broadly as possible; a Feb. 18 ICE directive authorizing officers to consider expedited removal for “paroled arriving aliens”; and a March 25 DHS notice terminating the Biden-era parole programs for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans.

Federal court halts Trump’s asylum crackdown at US-Mexico border
A district judge blocked Trump’s day-one proclamation cracking down on asylum claims at the southern border.
Federal court halts Trump’s asylum crackdown at US-Mexico border

CNN: Trump is creating new universes of people to deport

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The full scope of the Trump administration’s mass deportation plan – which has been evident in theory – is only just starting to come together in practice, and its scale has come as a surprise to many Americans.

This week, the Supreme Court blessed, for now, the administration’s effort to deport people from countries such as Cuba and Venezuela to places other than their homeland, including nations halfway around the world in Africa.

In Florida, construction began on a migrant detention center intended to be a sort of Alcatraz in the Everglades.

And CNN reported exclusively that the administration will soon make a large universe of people who had been working legally after seeking asylum eligible for deportation.

I went to the author of that report, CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez, and asked her to explain what we know and what we’re learning about how the different stories are coming together.

One thing that stuck out to me is how the totality of the administration’s actions is turning people who had been working legally in the US into undocumented immigrants now facing deportation.

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The plans that the administration has been working on are targeting people who came into the US unlawfully and then applied for asylum while in the country.

The plan here is to dismiss those asylum claims, which could affect potentially hundreds of thousands of people and then make them immediately deportable.

It also puts the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency responsible for managing federal immigration benefits, at the center of the president’s deportation campaign, because not only are they the ones that manage these benefits, but they have also been delegated the authority by the Department of Homeland Security to place these individuals in fast-track deportation proceedings and to take actions to enforce immigration laws.

This is a shift that is prompting a lot of concern. As one advocate with the ACLU put it – and I’ll just quote her – “They’re turning the agency that we think of as providing immigration benefits as an enforcement arm for ICE.”

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You’re right to say that coming into this administration, Trump officials repeatedly said their plans were to target people with criminal records.

That is a hard thing to do. It requires a lot of legwork, and their numbers in terms of arrests were relatively low compared to where they wanted to be.

The White House wants to meet at least 3,000 arrests a day, and you just cannot do that if you are only going after people with criminal records.

Analysis: Trump is creating a new universe of people to deport | CNN Politics
The puzzle pieces are starting to come together for Trump’s master deportation plan

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/26/politics/immigration-deportations-trump-asylum-seekers

Western Journal: Trump Admin Preparing Move That Would Allow for Mass Deportation of Hundreds of Thousands of Illegal Aliens: Report

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Illegal immigrants who sought to stave off deportation by filing asylum claims may find themselves in line for deportation according to a new report.

According to CNN, federal officials are considering a plan in which they would dismiss asylum claims for illegal immigrants, which would make them what CNN called “immediately deportable.”

CNN cited sources it did not name for the report.

The report said that illegal immigrants whose asylum claims are terminated would be subject to expedited removal.

Closing the cases of illegal immigrants who sought asylum with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will impact thousands of illegal immigrants, which the CNN report estimating there were about 250,000 cases in 2023 alone, during the height of the Biden-era spike in illegal immigrants entering the U.S.

The report said about 1.45 million people have asylum applications pending.

That’s almost 1.5 million lives (not counting friends and family) that can be turned inside out and upside down. Homan & Noem must be getting really excited, already savoring the fear and anxiety they will inflict.

Trump Admin Preparing Move That Would Allow for Mass Deportation of Hundreds of Thousands of Illegal Aliens: Report
A new report says the Trump administraiotn may be looking at another option to deport illegal immigrants across America.
Trump Admin Preparing Move That Would Allow for Mass Deportation of Hundreds of Thousands of Illegal Aliens: Report

Reuters: US judge blocks Trump from suspending Biden-era migrant ‘parole’ programs

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  • Judge orders resumption of Biden-era parole programs
  • Ruling affects migrants from Afghanistan, Latin America, and Ukraine
  • Trump administration seeks Supreme Court intervention against earlier ruling

A U.S. federal judge on Wednesday ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to resume processing applications from migrants seeking work permits or more lasting immigration status who are living in the country temporarily under “parole” programs.

The ruling by District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston will provide relief to thousands of migrants from Afghanistan, Latin America, and Ukraine who were granted a two-year “parole” to live in the country under programs established by Democratic former President Joe Biden’s administration.

The same judge had previously blocked the Trump administration from revoking the parole status of hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans.

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US judge blocks Trump from suspending Biden-era migrant ‘parole’ programs
A U.S. federal judge on Wednesday ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to resume processing applications from migrants seeking work permits or more lasting immigration status who are living in the country temporarily under “parole” programs.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-judge-blocks-trump-halting-biden-era-migrant-parole-programs-2025-05-28

Politico: The Pro-Trump Cuban Rapper About to Be Deported

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The predicament of the rapper known as ‘El Funky’ reveals the deeply conflicted anti-Castro and pro-Trump politics of South Florida.

In 2021, like many Cubans and Cuban Americans that summer, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was jamming to “Patria y Vida,” the Grammy-winning protest anthem that became a rallying cry for dissidents in Cuba. The hip-hop song, whose title translates to “Homeland and Life,” directly rebuked Fidel Castro’s revolutionary slogan, “Patria o Muerte” — “Homeland or Death.” That was a cause that resonated with Rubio, the son of Cuban exiles, so much that in 2023, he introduced the “Patria y Vida Act,” “protecting against Tyrants” and expanding internet service in Cuba.

Now, one of the song’s central voices, Cuban rapper Eliéxer Márquez Duany — better known as El Funky — faces removal from the United States. Earlier this month, U.S. immigration authorities denied Márquez Duany’s residency application under the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act. He has less than 30 days to leave the U.S. or face deportation and likely imprisonment in Cuba, since his music helped fuel the largest anti-government protests in Cuba in decades.

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Márquez Duany’s journey from resistance icon to deportation case began in February 2021, when he and other artists released “Patria y Vida.” The song, featuring rappers and musicians both on and off the island, denounced repression in Cuba and called for change. Two of its creators, Maykel Osorbo and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, are currently in prison in Cuba for their participation in the project and other protests. Meanwhile, the song’s banned status on the island only amplified its power: It became the de facto anthem of the unprecedented protests during the summer of 2021.

By then, Márquez Duany had already been under house arrest for months, kept from participating in the demonstrations by guards posted outside his home. When the Latin Grammy Awards sent him an invitation a few months later, Márquez Duany knew it was likely his only chance to escape. As is customary, a Cuban government official escorted him to the airport.

“What we want is for you to leave,” he says the official told him. “Go, but don’t come back because you’re not welcome here.”

Once in Miami, Márquez Duany married a Cuban American, found a maintenance job at a Christian school, and kept recording music. He applied to adjust his legal status under the CAA, which allows Cubans paroled into the U.S. to claim permanent residency after one year.

He assumed the law still stood firmly behind him. But the ground had already shifted.

The Pro-Trump Cuban Rapper About to Be Deported
The predicament of the rapper known as ‘El Funky’ reveals the deeply conflicted anti-Castro and pro-Trump politics of South Florida.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/05/23/hes-a-pro-trump-rapper-and-a-cuban-dissident-the-trump-administration-is-deporting-him-anyway-00367085

Independent: Trump puts white South Africans on citizenship fast track while rejecting all other refugees: ‘As subtle as an air raid’

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President claims Afrikaners are victims of ‘genocide’ while denying entry to refugees fleeing famine and war

Since taking office, Donald Trump’s administration has virtually shut down refugee admissions and blocked funding for resettlement groups, stranding thousands of people who were granted entry to the United States for humanitarian protections only to have those offers rescinded.

But the president has singled out one specific group of people who will be allowed entry into the United States and appear to be on a fast track to citizenship: white South Africans.

A group of 59 white South Africans admitted to the United States as “refugees” have been “essentially extended citizenship,” Trump said on Monday.

They were greeted by State Department officials on Monday after landing at Washington Dulles International Airport on a taxpayer-funded flight following their fast-tracked refugee vetting process under the administration’s radically reshaped admissions program.

King Donald is welcoming white racists from South Africa as he terminates the refugee status of 530,000 legitimate refugees already in the U.S.

Trump welcomes white South Africans while rejecting all other refugees
President claims Afrikaners are victims of ‘genocide’ while denying entry to refugees fleeing famine and war

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-south-african-citizenship-refugees-b2749548.html

Miami Herald: ‘Deport every person under the sun’: ICE detains Cubans during immigration appointments

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Anything to get the numbers up, so that Trump & cronies can claim to be doing something!

Federal authorities in South Florida have recently detained at least 18 Cubans during scheduled immigration appointments, local attorneys say, highlighting that a group that has historically enjoyed special immigration benefits is not immune to the Trump administration’s intensified mass deportation efforts.

Among the Cubans recently detained is Beatriz Monteagudo, 25, her friend Johan Ariel told the Miami Herald. The pair texted each other daily. But the last message he received from Monteagudo was March 10. The Cuban woman, who got an I-220A after entering the U.S. in January 2024, was heading to her required check-in appointment in Miramar.

Ariel quickly grew worried that he hadn’t heard from her following the appointment. When he searched the ICE detainee locator service online, her name showed up. Then came Monteagudo’s call.

When she called Ariel from the detention facility, she told him she was with about 18 others who had also been taken into custody after showing up for their routine appointments. Monteagudo told him she wasn’t told why they were there, aside from officers mentioning the laws had changed.

That’s a blatant lie. No laws changed. Trump and ICE are now retaliating again people who have properly complied with the process up to this point. Most of these Cubans crossed the border after they had arranged appointments to do so with immigration officials.

To date, neither Monteagudo nor Ariel have gotten answers, he says. And this week, Monteagudo, who was living in Miami, was transferred to a detention facility in San Diego.

Transferring detainees to remote prisons is a favorite ICE tactic to make it difficult / impossible for family members and attorneys to assist the detainees.

‘Deport every person under the sun’: ICE detains Cubans during immigration appointments
Beatriz Monteagudo and Laura de la Caridad Sanchez are two Cuban women detained by ICE after routine appointments in Miramar. More than a dozen others were also possibly detained.

‘Deport every person under the sun’: ICE detains Cubans during immigration appointments