Trump Administration Almost Doubled The Deportation Of Cubans To The Island In 2025: Report

The Trump administration deported over 1,600 Cubans to the island in 2025, more than twice the amount in 2024, according to a new report.

Even more have been sent to Mexico, The New York Times noted. Many had been in the country for decades and were removed due to old criminal convictions.

The outlet noted that even though nationals from many countries have seen sharp increases in the amount of deportations since the Trump administration began, it has felt different for Cubans because they were usually not targeted for removal.

Elsewhere, the piece noted that legal immigration has practically stopped. Cuba has also been included in a list of 19 countries impacted by a travel ban, seen the end of a family reunification program and the pause of all immigration cases from the country, including pending naturalization, residency and asylum applications.

Those who are returned or prevented from going to the U.S. face harsh conditions in the island, as Cuba experiences its worst economic crisis in the almost 70 years since the communist revolution, according to a recent report.

According to a recent poll, over three in four Cubans intend to flee the country. The survey was conducted by the Social Rights Observatory during the summer and reported by the Wall Street Journal as part of a broader piece about the country's crumbling economy.

The same poll showed that seven in ten respondents go at least without a meal a day and nearly 90% live in extreme poverty. Moreover, for over 70% of Cubans their main concerns are the lack of food and constant blackouts.

Some 2.7 million people have already left Cuba since 2020, a quarter of the population. Hundreds of thousands have gone to the U.S., Havana-based demographer Juan Carlos Albizu-Campos told the outlet.

Moreover, experts are warning that Cuba's ongoing shortage of oil will deepen as the U.S. cuts shipments from Venezuela following the capture of authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro.

The New York Times detailed in a different report that the country needs 100,000 barrels of oil a day to function, but it's not getting nearly enough. In fact, a regime-run television and radio broadcaster said on Tuesday it was off the air for several days because it didn't have diesel to power the station.

The outlet noted that shipments from Venezuela, an ideological ally, had already been declining. At its peak it would send 100,000 barrels a day, but the figure had dropped to about 35,000, according to experts quoted by the outlet.