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A recent poll conducted by the Miami Herald indicates growing dissatisfaction among Cubans and Cuban Americans in South Florida regarding the Trump administration’s approach to Caribbean migrants.
The survey, unveiled on Thursday, reveals that 68% of Cuban respondents either strongly or somewhat disapprove of the administration’s efforts to deport undocumented Cubans who do not have criminal records, while only 28% express strong or moderate approval.
Furthermore, an overwhelming 81% of those surveyed believe that the Trump administration should provide a legal pathway for Cubans to immigrate to the United States.
The poll sampled 800 Cubans and Cuban Americans residing in South Florida, stretching from the Florida Keys to Palm Beach County. According to the Miami Herald, approximately 75% of participants were born in Cuba, with the remainder being U.S.-born.
This survey emerges amidst ongoing tensions between the U.S. and Cuba, which lies just a few hundred miles from Miami-Dade County. This area boasts the largest population of Cubans outside of Cuba itself, as noted by Florida International University.
The Caribbean nation has plunged into a deep economic and energy crisis due to an oil embargo put in place by the Trump administration in January following the U.S. military operation in Venezuela.
The island’s entire electrical grid collapsed last month, leaving nearly 11 million people in the dark for more than a day. Cubans are also facing a worsening humanitarian crisis with limited access to food, water and medication.
The U.S. has sought to leverage economic pressure to push political reform in Cuba, with President Trump warning other countries not to do business with them.
The administration has also taken other aggressive actions against Cuba since the start of Trump’s second term, redesignating the country as a state sponsor of terrorism, announcing new visa restrictions and revoking legal protected status that shielded Cubans in the U.S. from deportation.
The State Department announced in January that it was pausing the processing of immigration visas from Cuba and 74 other countries. It also signaled that it would phase out parole programs that allowed some people to live and work in the U.S. for up to two years based on “urgent humanitarian reasons or a significant public benefit.”
An analysis by the Cato Institute also found that nearly a million applications from Cuban migrants have been affected by a federal benefits freeze, including nearly 36,000 applicants seeking naturalization.
The Miami Herald poll showed that 76 percent of respondents said the administration should resume processing benefits for Cuban nationals already living in the U.S., with 16 percent saying it should not.
The survey was conducted by Bendixen & Amandi International and The Tarrance Group from April 6 to April 10. It had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.