Wayne DeMario, a businessman from Miami-Dade who voted for Donald Trump in the 2024 elections, has publicly expressed regret over his decision and has pledged not to support the Republican Party again after his Cuban partner, Yamile Alcantu, was deported after nearly 25 years living in the United States.
“If I had voted Democrat, I wouldn’t have lost my wife,” DeMario stated in comments to the agency Reuters this week, expressing his outrage over the immigration policies of the Trump administration and detailing the consequences they have had for his family.
The man, owner of a guitar store in Cutler Bay, claims that he never imagined that the government he helped elect would end up separating him from Yamile, affectionately known as "Yami," with whom he had shared around two decades of his life.
His disenchantment is such that he now even questions the very idea of the American Dream: “No, I don’t believe the American Dream exists. Now it’s an American nightmare”, he stated.
"I only see a complete lack of respect for this country."
In his latest testimony, DeMario has broadened his criticisms beyond the deportation of his partner.
The businessman asserts that what happened has made him question the treatment that immigrants receive, particularly Cubans and other Latin Americans with whom he has lived for years in South Florida.
“I only see a complete lack of respect for this country and for the people who live in it. I see racism and I feel it, for what it has done to all my Latino friends, especially my Cuban friends,” he declared.
"I grew up in Miami, I have a lot of Cuban family and friends, and a lot of them have been deported for incidents that happened 20 years ago," he added.
DeMario believes that the deportations driven by the Trump administration have created discontent even among those who supported the president in the 2024 elections.
“People tell me the same thing, whether they are Republicans, Democrats, or independents: 'This is not what we voted for.' We did not vote for this”, he stated.
The businessman argues that many voters were expecting an immigration policy focused on dangerous criminals, but they believe the measures taken have also ended up affecting immigrants who have been established in the United States for decades.
“This is a very Hispanic district. And people tell us they were expecting an immigration policy focused on criminals. That is not the case. They were expecting an economic policy focused on prosperity. It is very far from that. People are suffering,” he concluded.
The story of Yamile: from 25 years in the United States to deportation
Behind DeMario's political regret lies the story of Yamile Alcantu, a Cuban who arrived in the United States approximately 25 years ago through the State Department's Visa Lottery program.
During that time, she built her life in the country, learned English, worked, paid taxes, and maintained a two-decade relationship with the businessman.
His story with immigration authorities became complicated in 2008, when a traffic stop led to the discovery of three Xanax pills in her purse and an order of deportation.
From that point on, Alcantu regularly appeared before immigration authorities, without incidents for years, until in June 2025, she attended a routine appointment with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and was detained.
She was first transferred to a detention center in Jacksonville and later to Louisiana, where she was held for months.
The Department of Homeland Security included her in its classification of "the worst of the worst" due to drug-related offenses.
Finally, she was deported to Mexico, not to Cuba as the couple had initially feared, putting an end to almost a quarter of a century of residency in the United States.
The businessman had already reported the detention of his partner in February
DeMario's regret did not begin with the deportation.
Months earlier, when Yamile was still in ICE custody, the businessman had already publicly expressed his outrage over the Trump administration's immigration policies.
In February of this year, Local 10 collected her desperate testimony, in which she tearfully pleaded with the president to intervene and allow her partner to return home.
"Please, take her home! She doesn't deserve this. She's a very sweet person and prayed for you," she pleaded then.
In that interview, he also described how Yamile had been arrested during her immigration appointment: “They grabbed her, they put her in shackles and chains.”
DeMario acknowledged at that moment that he had supported the Republicans in the 2024 presidential elections, although he claimed to feel betrayed by the consequences of the immigration measures.
"I didn't vote for this, but I definitely voted Republican," he declared.
His frustration was also reflected in Facebook posts, where he announced that he would no longer support the party: “I am not a supporter of Trump. I vote for Republicans. And I will never vote for them again.”
In another message, he was even more emphatic: "I am furious with this entire administration and with the whole government... I regret voting for that idiot."
“She is American at heart”, DeMario insisted, while trying to avoid the deportation of his partner.
A lifetime of savings to try to avoid deportation
The legal battle to prevent Yamile's expulsion also had a significant economic cost for DeMario.
While Alcantu remained detained, the businessman launched a fundraising campaign on GoFundMe.
DeMario then stated that he had invested all his life savings in legal fees and expenses related to the detention of his partner, while continuing to work in his store, Wayne's Guitar World.
Despite his efforts and the public campaign he launched to achieve her release, he was unable to prevent Yamile from being deported.
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