A small girl became the star of a viral moment on TikTok when she innocently replied that her grandmother does have papers to go to Cuba... "in the kitchen," not realizing that her relatives were referring to immigration documents.
The video, posted last Friday on TikTok by the user @dayanisashley97 (DayiAshley), lasts just 36 seconds and has touched the hearts of thousands with the contrast between childhood innocence and the harsh reality faced by many separated Cuban families.
In the recording, you can hear how they explain to the little girl that her grandmother cannot accompany her to Cuba because "she doesn't have papers." The girl, confusing immigration documents with regular domestic paper, responds matter-of-factly that the papers do exist: "they're right there, in the kitchen."
The moment brought forth tears and smiles in equal measure. "That makes me want to cry because I want to go to Cuba, but I don’t have papers," is heard from the little girl, who doesn’t fully understand why she can't make the journey herself.
The description accompanying the video captures the sentiment of thousands of Cubans: "Sometimes it's better to be a child and not understand anything." The comments were filled with reactions like "How beautiful," expressing the tenderness that the clip evoked.
The situation depicted in the video is not unfamiliar to the Cuban community in the United States. Thousands of Cubans find themselves in a legal limbo that prevents them from traveling: they cannot leave the country without the risk of being unable to return, and they also lack the necessary documents to enter Cuba.
Since April 1, 2025, the island requires a valid Cuban passport to enter the country, eliminating the exception that previously allowed entry with an expired passport.
In addition, the Trump administration terminated the CHNV humanitarian parole program in March 2025 and the family reunification parole in December of that same year, leaving many Cubans without regularized immigration status in the United States.
The result is a generation of Cubans —including grandmothers— caught in that limbo, unable to reunite with their families on the island, while the children at home still do not understand why their loved ones cannot simply get on a plane.
This type of content is part of a well-established trend on TikTok during 2025 and 2026, where Cuban diaspora families share emotional moments related to separation, reunions, and the innocence of the little ones in the face of a reality that their elders bear with pain.
Filed under: