A November 3 Reuters report identifies a number of actions taken by the Trump administration designed to discourage the flood of unaccompanied minors illegally entering the country. What they have in common is that they are reversals of executive policy actions made by the Obama administration. The most noted change was ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) which, in a probably unconstitutional initiative, gave illegal aliens who entered as youth temporary protection against deportation and work authorization.
Another Trump action ends Obama’s initiative offering refugee status to youth in Central American countries while they are still in their home countries. That policy is contrary to the international standard of considering as refugees only those who have fled their home country.
This policy change by the Trump administration suggests a similar action that should be taken toward Cuba. It was the Clinton administration that established a program of issuing immigrant visas to Cubans who had not left their homeland. It was done by executive action rather than by legislation. It, therefore, is ripe for reversal by Trump – especially in the hostile environment in which U.S. diplomats stationed in Havana are incurring serous medical problems as a result of apparently being bombarded by some electronic waves in their Cuban operated housing.