Trump may be triggering a new Cuban migration crisis

In 1994, my family left their home in central Cuba, trekked to the coast, and made the perilous crossing of the Florida Straits on a homemade raft to a land they had never visited or seen. 

It was the height of the “rafter” crisis. My grandfather had lost his job at the Camagüey train station because, with fuel in short supply, he couldn’t reliably make it to work. Without a job, already scarce baby food became impossible to afford. The decision to leave was difficult, but the reasoning was straightforward: leave Cuba, or go hungry. 

My family may have had disagreements with the Cuban government, but, as with many migrants, the reason for leaving was more immediate: survival. 

Today, U.S. policies are forcing millions of Cubans to make the same choice, creating a perfect storm for a new migration crisis.

In his first term in office, President Trump reversed the small steps that President Obama had taken to ease relations between our countries — steps that had brought rare hope to millions of Cubans. He then proceeded to tighten sanctions to unprecedented levels.

This, combined with the lost tourist revenue from the COVID-19 pandemic, pushed Cuba into a deep economic crisis — worse, even, than the period after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the rafter crisis took place. The economy shrunk three years in a row. The government turned to the World Food Programme for........

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