Majority of Cubans, Cuban Americans in South Florida disapprove of deportations: Poll

Many Cubans and Cuban Americans in South Florida are unhappy with the Trump administration over its treatment of migrants from the Caribbean island, according to a new Miami Herald poll.

The poll, released Thursday, found that 68 percent of Cubans strongly or somewhat disapprove of the administration’s push to deport undocumented Cuban nationals without criminal records, compared to 28 percent who strongly or somewhat approve.

An overwhelming majority, 81 percent, also said the Trump administration should allow Cubans to immigrate to the U.S. legally, according to the poll.

The survey was conducted among 800 randomly selected Cubans and Cuban Americans living in South Florida, from the Florida Keys to Palm Beach County. Roughly three-quarters of respondents were born on the island, while the others were U.S.-born, the Herald noted.

The survey comes amid simmering tensions between the U.S. and Cuba, which is located a couple of hundred miles from Miami-Dade County, which itself is home to the largest concentration of Cubans outside the island, according to 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.

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