A Cuban resident in the United States went viral on TikTok for filming a 16-second video at the Madame Tussauds museum in front of the wax figures of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Donald Trump, describing each one in migratory terms with a phrase that encapsulates the experience of thousands of Cubans in the United States.
"I never thought I would find these three people together. Look, the one who let me into this country, the one who wants to kick me out, and the one responsible for me not having residency yet," says user @abis_lio2 while pointing at each figure.
The clip, published on May 24, humorously condenses the migratory journey of an entire generation of Cubans who arrived under Biden's humanitarian parole program and who today face the deportation policies of Trump's second term.
The reference to Biden as "the one who let me in" refers to the CHNV program, which allowed hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans to enter the United States legally with temporary work and residence permits.
The statement by Trump referring to "the one who wants to remove me" reflects a concrete reality: the administration cancelled the CHNV humanitarian parole in 2025 for over 530,000 migrants, intensified deportations, and the detentions of Cubans by Immigration and Customs Enforcement increased by 463% between the end of 2024 and the end of 2025.
At least 1,370 Cubans were deported in 2025, and the total during Trump's second term exceeded 1,952 at the beginning of this year.
The reference to Obama as "the reason I still don't have residency" points to a decision that marked a significant turning point for the Cuban community: the elimination of the "wet feet, dry feet" policy on January 12, 2017, just days before Obama left the White House.
For decades, that policy had granted Cubans who set foot on U.S. soil the right to remain and eventually obtain residency under the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966. With its elimination, Cubans began to be treated migratorily the same as any other nationality, closing off that preferential pathway.
Many of those who arrived later under Biden's parole are left in a legal limbo without residency and at risk of deportation, precisely the situation depicted in the video.
In February 2025, the Citizenship and Immigration Service paused the processing of residency applications for parole beneficiaries, although in June of that year, it resumed immigration procedures for Cubans with parole.
In November 2025, a deportation flight was conducted with 232 Cuban citizens, described as the largest since these operations resumed, amidst a context in which lawyers warn that authorities may cancel the immigration statuses of those who do not regularize their situation.
The video by @abis_lio2, lasting just 16 seconds, accomplished what few analyses do: it summarizes the recent Cuban migration story and the collective sentiment of a community caught between the decisions of three different presidents in just three points.
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