José Antonio González, a 51-year-old Cuban deported to Mexico in December 2025 after living in the United States for 38 years, revealed in an interview with Tania Costa that his entire family — his wife, his children, and his 82-year-old mother, all U.S. citizens — voted for Donald Trump in the November 2024 elections, without imagining the consequences that immigration policy would have on them.
"My wife, my children, my in-laws, my mom, everyone," said José Antonio while confirming his family's vote for Trump. The phrase that sums up the drama is striking: "My entire family voted for Trump, but we didn't know this was going to happen."
His mother conveyed her own bewilderment to him: "I have never seen this madness in 38 years," she told him, as José Antonio himself recounted.
José Antonio González arrived in the United States on January 9, 1987, at just nine years old, crossing the Canadian border. He committed offenses while still a minor, was sentenced in 1994, and served his full sentence. Since his release in 2001 until his arrest, he had no further legal issues: he worked as a house painter for 18 years and in stores like Home Depot delivering appliances, paid taxes, and supported his family.
Last year he was detained during a routine appointment with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). His case involved form I-220B, a migratory supervision order that, according to lawyer Willy Allen, left no legal room: "I-220B had nothing to do" and that is why he advised them to leave the country.
After nearly six months in a detention center in Texas—where he suffered deplorable conditions, with spoiled food and inadequate medical care—he was forcibly deported. ICE agents warned him: "Sign or don’t sign, by force or by choice, you’re leaving."
The political paradox of the case is not isolated. According to the 2024 FIU Cuba Poll, 68% of likely Cuban-American voters in Miami-Dade planned to vote for Trump, the highest level ever recorded by that survey. However, the administration's immigration policies did not differentiate between Cubans who have been established in the country for decades and other migrants.
The scope of these deportations is significant. According to Human Rights Watch, between January 20, 2025, and March 9, 2026, 4,353 Cubans were deported to Mexico under the Trump administration. Since June 2025, the monthly number of Cubans deported to Mexico has surpassed those sent to Cuba, partly because the Cuban regime rejects the repatriation of many of its citizens.
Now, settled in Mexico, a country he says he cannot adapt to, José Antonio González is clear about his next step: to apply for migration relief in an attempt to return legally to the United States, the only country he considers his true home. In fact, he admits that he is more American than Cuban.
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