Political asylum seekers need protection
Trump's deportation policies and travel bans are leaving vulnerable asylum seekers flapping in the wind. They are trying to be heard, but is anyone listening?
5 junio — 12 junio 2025
Hola y welcome back to CubaCurious.
What a week. In Cuba, the regime stepped up harassment and detentions of students protesting recent telecom rate hikes. A third dissident leader who was “released” in January under the Cuba-Vatican deal was re-incarcerated without cause. And there are new reports that U.S. officials in Havana are using bogus claims to reject nearly-approved visa requests, a sign that the “partial” ban on travel from Cuba to the U.S. may not be partial after all.
In the U.S., Trump’s travel bans—whether complete or partial, as in Cuba’s case—are rocking South Florida. The region has the largest Cuban and Haitian diasporic communities in the world and the largest Venezuelan community in the U.S. Almost everyone works with, lives near, or is related in some way to a family caught in the immigration sweep.
Who gets to stay and who is gets the boot often depends on a hidden and flawed process. Cuban Americans see the evidence all around them, seeing known Cuban repressors walking around Miami’s streets while their former political prisoners have been deported to the island.
The case of two sisters who escaped forced labor sentences for marching in the 11J anti-regime protests in July, 2021, is just one example of the flaws in Trump’s immigration policies. Mariana Fernández and Yaneris Redondo fled Cuba by raft in 2022, but are face imminent deportation now. A Cuban court had sentenced Yaneris to seven years imprisonment and Mariana, who was a minor at the time, to four. After great effort and expense, the family succeeded in reducing the sentences to house arrest and forced labor.
The sisters and their mother, who lives in Florida, are terrified of what will happen to them if they are deported. They’re working with lawyers and activists to raise awareness of their case.
I’m doing what I can to help them avoid the brutal grip of a dictatorship that prohibits dissent of any kind. You can help as well by knowing and sharing their story—and emailing your congressional representative, senator, or the White House a plea for their protection.
Below is Mariana’s message, posted by Cuban activist Anamely Ramos González on Facebook on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Coast Guard rescued 47 Cubans on an uninhabited Bahamian cay. The Coast Guard issued a statement warning "anyone attempting to enter the United States illegally by sea will be intercepted and repatriated to their country of origin or departure." Anyone.
Wishing you peace and liberty—and the great courage required to achieve and protect them.
Hasta la semana que viene,
Ana
Posted by Anamely Ramos González on Facebook, Wednesday 11 June, on behalf of Mariana, Yaneris, and their family.
My name is Mariana De la Caridad Fernández Leon and together with my sister Yaneris Redondo Leon, we were part of the historic protests of July 11, 2021 in Havana, Cuba, specifically in the [Havana’s] Mantilla neighborhood. That day we took to the streets, like so many Cubans, to demand freedom and the end of repression. Instead, we were met with tear gas, beatings, threats and illegal arrests.
I was arrested, physically assaulted, exposed to pepper gas, and locked up with my sister for 15 days without a warrant. During the detention we suffered psychological abuse, death threats and medical negligence. After those days and with all the superhuman effort of my family, we were released on bail of 1,000 Cuban pesos each, and we were awaiting trial under strict surveillance. For more than a year, we were forced to report periodically to police, sign documents under threat of returning to prison if we participated in any protest or public meeting, and were constantly watched in our own homes.
On July 18, 2022, the regime submitted us to an arbitrary trial. We were charged with the crimes of Contempt, Assault and Public Disorder, charges commonly used in Cuba to criminalize peaceful protest. With fabricated charges, we were found guilty. My sister Yaneris was sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment, and I, being a minor at the time, was initially sentenced to 5 years, which were reduced to 4 years of house arrest thanks to the legal effort of my lawyer.
Following the trial, the court issued an official prison order, granting us only 72 hours to voluntarily surrender under threat of forcible capture. That document, which I still retain, confirms the immediate detention order, leaving us with no room for defense or possibility of effective appeal.
In the face of impending repression and the well-founded fear of what lay ahead, we made the most difficult decision of our lives: flee our country. On November 13, 2022, after a journey of more than 16 hours by sea, we arrived at an uninhabited cay, exhausted and with no clear direction, but with hope intact. We managed to survive that dangerous crossing and finally reach American territory, where we applied for political asylum.
Upon arrival, my health was critical. I was hospitalized for a severe case of rabdomiolisis, a result of extreme physical wear and tear during our escape.
Today we face the fear of being denied that protection [political asylum]. We know that if we get sent back to Cuba, we're in for retaliation, jail or something worse. I don't just speak for myself or my sister. I speak for hundreds of Cuban young men and women who raised their voices on 11J and today are in the same danger.
We ask the United States government, immigration judges, society, and all Cuban exile to listen to us. Our cause is not individual. It's the cause of a people that continues to demand freedom.
We dont ask for privilege. We ask for justice and international protection, as befits those fleeing a dictatorship.
I, Mariana De la Caridad Fernández Leon, and my sister Yaneris Redondo Leon, meet each and every legal and humanitarian requirements to obtain political refugee status. We consider that it would be deeply unfair to return us to a country where we were already imprisoned for thinking differently and making clear our political position, and where, with the new repressive measures implemented by the Cuban dictatorship, returning could mean — without exageration — death.
Not only did we participate in the July 11, 2021 protests in Cuba, but since our arrival in exile, we have continued our fight for freedom. We have done it responsibly and bravely, participating in marches, vigils, public events, and denouncing in the media, radio and television the serious violations of human rights committed by that totalitarian regime.
Today, with this statement, we are not only defending our lives and our liberty. We defend the right of all people to live without fear. And we ask the American government to act with justice, with humanity and with historical memory.
We are politically persecuted. We ask for protection, not privilege.
Cuban Treat of the Week
Michael Reyes is one of the young leaders in Boston’s Cuban American community working to spread the word about the struggle for freedom in Cuba. He asked me to join him on his radio program to talk about my new memoir, Property of the Revolution, our advocacy work, and Cuba in general. We had a fun, energizing conversation. Thanks, Mike!
It’s very difficult to “like” a post as grave as this situation and so many like it. I will send this to people that I think care, and who knows, might be able to help. Better late than never. This is heartbreaking. 💔 ❤️ with hope, m