JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
President Trump kicked off his second term with a dramatic crackdown on immigration, ramping up arrests, terminating temporary legal protections and transporting migrants from the U.S. mainland to Guantanamo Bay. Immigrant advocates call those moves cruel and unnecessary. But many of Trump's supporters are applauding these early steps, as NPR's Joel Rose reports.
JOEL ROSE, BYLINE: Dozens of demonstrators gathered recently in a park across the street from the White House. From a distance, they look like protesters.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Chanting) Libertad, libertad. Freedom for Cuba.
(CHEERING)
ROSE: But up close, you could hear them chanting, freedom for Cuba. These were Cuban Americans who had come to show support for the president and push him to be even tougher on Cuba's communist government. Several of the demonstrators say they support President Trump's immigration crackdown, too.
ALEXEYS BLANCO DIAZ: We're thankful that Donald Trump is taking action against illegal immigration.
ROSE: Alexeys Blanco Diaz was one of those demonstrators, wearing a bright red MAGA baseball hat. But there is one big way that Blanco Diaz differs from your average Trump supporter. He is, himself, a recent immigrant to the U.S. who fled Cuba in 2022 and is currently seeking asylum here. Blanco Diaz turned himself in after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.
BLANCO DIAZ: I mean, I was expecting that the officials would ask me what are you doing here? Why are you coming to this country? I came in with my papers, with all of the evidence I have of being oppressed in Cuba, but nobody asked me anything. And at that moment, I thought, this is not right.
ROSE: If Blanco Diaz showed up at the border today, under President Trump, he would likely be turned away. The White House has moved quickly to end several Biden-era asylum policies, closing off the CBP One app that allowed migrants to enter legally to ask for asylum, as well as a special humanitarian program for migrants from Cuba and other countries. Blanco Diaz says he is glad to see those Biden programs end. So is Kiele Cabrera, who grew up in Miami but still has family back in Cuba.
KIELE CABRERA: I think that it is a temporary necessity in order to organize the unfortunate chaos of allowing 3, 4, 5 million migrants into this country.
ROSE: There were a record number of migrant apprehensions at the border during the Biden administration, though the numbers dropped significantly last year. Still, some Trump supporters are eager for a tougher approach. Tzvi Dechter was visiting Washington from Florida with his family.
TZVI DECHTER: It's an unfortunate and sad situation, but, you know, there's a lot of things going on here in America that need to be taken care of and cleaned, and I'm happy that someone is doing it.
ROSE: Near the Washington monument, Beatrice Richards was selling Trump merchandise laid out on a couple of tables on the sidewalk. Richard says she's glad to see the president keeping migrants out.
BEATRICE RICHARDS: That's very good because those are bad people coming to harm people, good people, here in America.
ROSE: There's no evidence of a widespread migrant crime wave, although a few grisly cases have drawn a lot of attention, and the Trump administration has tried to play up that narrative with a series of high-profile arrests in major cities. And so far, a lot of his supporters are on board. Enoch Rich is a pastor from Central City, Kentucky.
ENOCH RICH: My goodness, they're going 1,000 miles an hour. But it's everything that he said he wanted to do thus far.
ROSE: Pastor Rich was wearing a knit Trump hat as he visited the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. While he supports the administration's crackdown, Rich says it has been alarming for congregants in his own church who immigrated from Mexico.
RICH: Those that are in the congregation are afraid.
ROSE: Rich says he's tried to comfort them by saying they're not likely to be targets.
RICH: I feel like - that things are not gonna go down that way. I do believe, from what I've seen about Trump, that as tough as he is - that he does have a soft heart.
ROSE: Immigration policy is a balance that can tip easily in either direction, Rich says, and he prays President Trump won't go too far. Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington.
Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.