A pro-Trump Cuban rapper faces being deported for being an illegal migrant – despite his support for the president.
Eliéxer Márquez Duany, also known by his stage name El Funky, is the artist behind the 2021 song “Patria y Vida,” which inspired Senator Marco Rubio to propose a bill with the same name in the Senate.
But his application for residency under the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act was denied and he posted to Facebook that he will be deported in 30 days.
“I have 30 days to leave the country, or I will face deportation. I am reaching out to all my Cuban brothers and sisters who recognize my anti-communist dedication, along with the members of Congress, to express that I need your backing more than ever today,” he wrote in the caption accompanying a photo of himself holding a cardboard sign that read: “SOS Cuba.”
His anti-communist views will likely make returning to his homeland dangerous and could potentially land him in prison.
‘What we want is for you to leave. Go, but don’t come back because you’re not welcome here,’ he was told when he fled the island in 2021.
His song is not only banned on the island but two of his collaborators have been imprisoned for it.
Rubio and other Cuban-American members of Congress who have celebrated Márquez Duany’s music in the past have not commented on his case.
Eliéxer Márquez Duany (pictured right) – known as the pro-Trump Cuban rapper El Funky – is at risk of being expelled from the United States due to his status as an undocumented immigrant, despite his vocal support for the president.
Márquez Duany wants Trump to show him sympathy but still understands the decision to deport him
Republican María Elvira Salazar of Florida is the only notable public figure to take up his case.
‘El Funky is a political refugee who deserves the full protection of U.S. immigration law,’ she told Politico.
‘We are working with the USCIS to ensure they understand the serious risk of torture and political persecution he faces if returned to Cuba.’
Salazar has said they have been making progress on Márquez Duany’s case. The silence from the Trump administration hasn’t changed his support for the president.
‘If I could vote, I would have voted for Trump. He’s the strongest president when it comes to Cuba,’ he said.
Márquez Duany has since married a Cuban-American woman and gotten a steady job while continuing his recording career.
But his application for residency came at a time when the law was in limbo, as Trump had limited it under his first term.
His anti-communist views will likely make returning to his homeland dangerous and could potentially land him in prison, as his music as been the soundtrack to anti-government protests in Cuba
Joe Biden attempted to come up with a workaround program but it was also limited.
Márquez Duany is now hastily attempting to file for asylum after his CAA application was denied without any reason.
However, he still sees Trump’s point, while wishing he could receive sympathy from the administration.
‘There are probably too many people here. I understand trying to get rid of those who shouldn’t be here. But Trump should look at each individual case. Like mine.’
Making Márquez Duany’s case even more difficult is Trump’s request to the Supreme Court to revoke the temporary legal status of 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans in the United States.
The announcement was made by Department of Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem on a notice to a Federal Register in March, the latest expansion of his crackdown on immigration.
The order applies to about 532,000 people from the four countries who came to the United States since October 2022 under a program called CHNV that the Biden administration was heavily criticized for.
Uncertainty still remains for some 240,000 Ukrainians who sought refuge in the US following the Russian invasion in 2021.
Eliéxer Márquez Duany – who raps under the name El Funky – once contributed to a 2021 song, ‘Patria y Vida,’ that led now Secretary of State Marco Rubio to introduce a law in the Senate named for it
Rubio and other Cuban-American members of Congress who have celebrated Márquez Duany’s music in the past have done nothing and even the rappers who worked with him on ‘Patria y Vida’ have been silent
Trump was said to be considering ending their legal status even before recent tensions between Washington and Kyiv.
The migrants losing legal status arrived with financial sponsors and were given two-year permits to live and work in the U.S.
Noem said they will lose their legal status in 30 days after the publication of the notice in the Federal Register.
The new policy impacts people who are already in the U.S. and who came under the humanitarian parole program.
It follows an earlier Trump administration decision to end what it called the ‘broad abuse’ of the humanitarian parole, a long-standing legal tool presidents have used to allow people from countries where there´s war or political instability to enter and temporarily live in the U.S.
During his campaign Trump promised to deport millions of people who are in the U.S. illegally, and as president he has been also ending legal pathways for immigrants to come to the U.S. and to stay.
DHS said parolees without a lawful basis to stay in the U.S. ‘must depart’ before their parole termination date.
‘Parole is inherently temporary, and parole alone is not an underlying basis for obtaining any immigration status,’ DHS said.
Before the new order, the beneficiaries of the program could stay in the U.S. until their parole expires, although the administration had stopped processing their applications for asylum, visas and other requests that might allow them to remain longer.
The administration decision has already been challenged in federal courts.
