Ismael Labrador is a Cuban-American lawyer based in Miami whose business caters to families trying to stop their relatives from being deported by ICE. Despite this, like 68% of the other Cuban-Americans in Florida, he voted for Donald Trump in 2024. Now, with the ICE crackdown having hit a little closer to home than he expected, he has some regrets.
Per IB Times, Labrador says he “voted for Trump because I wanted to get criminals out of the country” and that he simply “wanted to have a safe America.” But, unfortunately for Labrador, his cousin (who was not a criminal) has now been deported to Cuba, and there was nothing he could do about it.
He struck a rueful tone, saying that he did his best to stop the deportation but, “It’s hard when you’re fighting against a lot of resources.” Labrador added that anyone without a Green Card is in ICE’s sights, saying “If you don’t have a Green Card in the United States, you may be a target. We have relatives living in fear right now, we’ve had relatives who have been deported back to Cuba, unfortunately.”
Should Cubans get an exemption?
Labrador went on to explain that ICE is targeting places previously thought off limits to immigration officials, naming school entrances, public transport stops, sporting events, and courthouses hosting immigration proceedings. He miserably concluded, “We never thought that he was going to go after everybody. This isn’t what I voted for.”
ICE, however, has been very clear that they are targeting everyone they consider to have broken American immigration law and are not making any special provisions for Cubans. In a September 2025 article, CNN detailed how 161 Cuban men and women were being returned to Cuba, with many of them reportedly “visibly dazed” that this was actually happening. A statement from ICE on this read, “If you break the law, you will face the consequences. Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the US.”
Fortunately, those deported don’t seem to be being openly mistreated on their return. CNN quotes Cuban immigration official Lt. Col Lourdes Gil Robaina, who simply said: “They are Cuban. They go home, where their family is. They don’t have a problem with immigration to be reinserted into society.”
So, are Cuban-Americans up in arms against Trump? A Florida International University survey released earlier this week found that 76% of Cuban-Americans in South Florida were extremely unhappy about the deportations of those without criminal records. However, 68% of them said they were still going to vote Republican in November’s midterm elections.
Published: Oct 30, 2026 12:45 pm