Growing numbers of Cubans are seeking asylum in Brazil as the Trump administration has closed off most legal migration routes to the United States, reversing a long-standing pattern of northward migration. More than 41,000 Cubans applied for asylum in Brazil last year, a record figure, as severe economic hardship in Cuba—including blackouts, fuel shortages and medicine scarcities—continues to push people to leave the island.

Brazil has become an attractive destination because it grants asylum-seekers the right to work and access to government social services, unlike the current situation in the US. Many migrants fly first to Guyana, which does not require a visa for Cubans, before crossing into Brazil through the Amazon. A United Nations expert has praised Brazil's "rights-based, non-criminalizing and open approach", although the country has tightened some rules at its main airport since 2024. Asylum applications grant temporary work rights, but final rulings can take years, or may never come at all.