David Jolly, Democratic candidate for Governor of Florida, promised in an exclusive interview with CiberCuba to pressure the Trump administration to reverse the drastic decline in residency approvals under the Cuban Adjustment Act, and he pledged to suspend cooperation agreements that allow the use of state resources to detain immigrants without criminal records.
The figures that support his complaint are compelling: according to data from the Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), approvals under that law plummeted from almost 50,000 per quarter in 2024 to only 139 in the second quarter of 2026, with more than 342,000 cases pending.
«This president has drastically slowed down that process. I believe that in the last quarter, only a few hundred applications were approved, instead of thousands. And that is wrong,» said Jolly, who is facing off against the Republican Byron Donalds in the general elections on November 3, 2026.
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The candidate was direct in stating that, during the previous administration, tens of thousands of Cubans were obtaining permanent legal status under current legislation, and that path has now virtually been blocked.
Regarding the Cubans with I-220A forms —hundreds of thousands who fear being deported— and who have had their applications stalled for years, Jolly appealed to the values that, in his view, Florida should uphold: "That person has been showing up to work every day for 12 years, contributing to the economy and earning a living so that their children can learn English and be part of the American dream. I believe we should be a state that honors those values."
In the broader context of immigration, the candidate promised to suspend the 287(g) agreements that utilize state resources to detain individuals based on their language or immigration status, require federal agents to present warrants and identify themselves, and uphold due process for all residents of the state.
Florida has approximately 295 participating agencies in the 287(g) program, which accounts for 43% of all agreements in the country. The Miami Police recorded 451 arrests under those agreements until August 2026; about 131 detainees—nearly 29%—were Cuban.
Regarding the situation in Doral, Jolly described what he heard firsthand: "A Venezuelan leader told me it felt like a hunting ground for people. There were children who were afraid to go to school because they didn't want to come home and find that their parents had disappeared."
Regarding Cuba, the candidate was emphatic: "I want to see the Cuban regime fall. I want to see a free Cuba and a free Cuban people." However, he questioned the coherence of Trump's foreign policy and warned that one cannot pursue the downfall of the regime at the expense of the health and life of the Cuban people.
Jolly also criticized the president for having proposed at one point that American investors participate in the Cuban hotel sector, labeling it as "ignorance" for not realizing that this would help sustain the dictatorship.
In response to the accusations of socialism from his rival Donalds, the Democrat countered: "It is Donald Trump and the Republicans who are supporting Delcy in Venezuela and who have invited Putin to South Florida in December: a regime that backed Maduro, the Sandinistas, and Castro."
The latest polls on the gubernatorial race show a closely contested battle: Donalds leads among Cuban Americans (51%-42%) and in the overall state (50%-42%), while Jolly is ahead among the total number of Latino voters (48%-43%). A poll published this Wednesday placed the Democrat with a 4.3-point advantage over Donalds, within the margin of error of ±4.8 points.
Meanwhile, the class action Bello-Rubio v. Noem, filed by Cubans with I-220A, continues its course in the Southern District Court of Florida; the plaintiffs submitted their opposition to the government's motion to dismiss the case on October 23, 2026.
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