She's Been Arrested — Secretary of State Marco Rubio Gives The Order To Go as ICE Arrests...
She's Been Arrested — Secretary of State Marco Rubio Gives The Order To Go as ICE Arrests...
Washington, D.C. - May 26, 2026
SECRETARY OF STATE MARCO RUBIO ORDERS ICE ARREST OF CUBAN REGIME ELITE’S SISTER IN FLORIDA AS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CRACKS DOWN ON FOREIGN THREATS
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced last week that federal authorities have arrested Adys Lastres Morera, the sister of sanctioned Cuban official Ania Guillermina Lastres, in Florida. Rubio stated that Lastres Morera will remain in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pending deportation proceedings after he determined she was removable under U.S. immigration law.
Lastres Morera entered the United States as a lawful permanent resident on January 13, 2023, during the previous administration. Rubio, who is of Cuban descent, personally revoked her green card after concluding that her presence posed a direct threat to American foreign policy interests due to alleged ties to the Cuban regime and its military-controlled business conglomerate, GAESA.
“For far too long, the family members of terrorist organizations, repressive anti-American regimes, and other bad actors who would threaten the national security of the United States have been given a free pass to enjoy the privileges of living in the United States,”
“Past Administrations have permitted the families of Cuban military elites, Iranian terrorists, and other reprehensible organizations to enjoy lavish lifestyles in our country funded by stolen blood-money, while the people they repress at home suffer in increasingly dire circumstances,”
“No longer. Under President Trump, we are removing from our country the family members of IRGC terrorists and Cuban regime elites,”
“Let me be very clear: if you threaten the national security of the United States, there will be nowhere on this earth — much less in our country — that you and your cronies can live lavishly,”
“We will find you, and we will hold you accountable.”
On X, Rubio detailed that Lastres Morera was managing real estate assets in the U.S. while aiding Havana’s communist regime. She is the sister of the Executive President of GAESA, the Cuban military-controlled financial conglomerate that controls roughly 70 percent of Cuba’s economy and is believed to hold up to $20 billion in illicit funds concealed overseas.
“Adys Lastres Morera is the sister of the Executive President of GAESA, the Cuban military-controlled financial conglomerate that steals millions in aid for the Cuban people at the behest of the regime,”
“Morera was managing real estate assets and living in Florida, while also aiding Havana’s communist regime, until I terminated her permanent resident status,”
“I am pleased to announce that today, she was arrested and is now in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,”
ICE Homeland Security Investigations confirmed that her presence posed a serious adverse foreign policy consequence and made her removable under section 237(a)(4)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
“Adys Lastres Morera’s presence in the United States has potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for our nation, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio has determined that she is removable under the provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act,”
“Allowing Lastres Morera to remain in the country would send a signal that Cuban regime-affiliated networks could continue to access the U.S.’s financial, educational and social institutions — but that is not the case,”
“HSI will continue to investigate those with ties to our nation’s adversaries and take appropriate actions to neutralize threats against our homeland,”
GAESA manages Cuba’s tourism industry, remittances, and the Cuban doctor program — key funding sources for the ruling communist regime. The arrest sends a clear message that the Trump administration will no longer tolerate regime-connected individuals enjoying American privileges while oppressing their own people. This action reinforces the president’s America First foreign policy that prioritizes national security over outdated open-border leniency.
White House Privately Braces for 2027
The White House is quietly preparing for a Democratic takeover of the House by hiring lawyers to fend off a wave of legal challenges that could cripple the final two years of President Donald Trump’s time in office.
The preparations illustrate how the White House is privately preparing for the possibility that Democrats will regain at least one chamber of Congress in November, even as Republicans express confidence in public, according to people close to the administration.
A Democratic House next year could be reminiscent of 2018 fights that included impeachment inquiries of the president and multiple investigations into his inner circle.
Michael Williams, who served in White House roles in President Donald Trump’s first term and was deputy general counsel for the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee, said staff is already preparing for another impeachment push even as Trump sets a broader strategy for dealing with Democrats.
“They’re ready for that eventuality,” Williams told Bloomberg Government. “I don’t think they’re ready to concede that that’s the likely outcome, but they’re certainly prepared in that event.”
Emma Doyle, former chief of staff at the Office of Management and Budget during Trump’s first term who later worked in the West Wing, said the administration is already hiring experienced lawyers to help prepare officials for impeachment, as she did in the first term.
The return of advisers Jason Miller and Johnny DeStefano strengthens the White House for those fights, Doyle said, along with staff such as Mark Paoletta, the OMB general counsel who worked on impeachment defense in the first term.
Miller and DeStefano rejoined the White House last month to work on midterm strategy.
However, Democrats are facing their own problems.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) may find himself caught in the very blue wave he hopes to ride into power this November.
More and more Democratic candidates are telling Axios that they can’t promise to support his leadership.
It’s a big change from Jeffries’ once “untouchable” position in the Democratic Party just a few years ago. This could mean his path to the speakership will be harder than people thought.
Jeffries and his supporters say they aren’t worried at all about a mass defection. They point out that he hasn’t lost a Democratic vote in 20 speakers’ ballots, even though he is in the minority.
However, this group of new candidates could potentially be the first challenge to the previously unyielding support.
A group of viable candidates has made it clear that voting for Jeffries as speaker is not a given if the Democrats win the House.
Axios reported that more than 80 Democratic House candidates across the country were either not sure if they would support Jeffries’ leadership or were completely against it.
Since then, things have only gotten worse for him.
The tension was on display in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District. Democrat nominee Rebecca Bennett, who likely needs to beat Rep. Tom Kean (R-NJ) if Democrats have any shot at the majority, refused to commit to voting for Jeffries before her primary win.
Likewise, Iowa’s 1st congressional Democratic nominee Christina Bohannan is also noncommittal, merely responding “I don’t know yet. I haven’t made that decision,” when asked by Punchbowl News if she would support Jeffries.
“I want to get elected first,” she continued.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report has classified both Bohannan and Bennett’s districts as toss-ups.
Republicans currently hold both seats.
Montana’s 1st congressional Democratic nominee Sam Forstag echoed similar sentiments as Bohannan.
Forstag sits in a seat labeled “likely Republican,” but has no incumbent running.
Mai Vang, the leading progressive primary challenger to Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), previously said she would “support the person that my future colleagues elect as our leader.”
But in an unprompted statement last week, she told Axios: “The Democratic Party and its leadership—Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries—have failed to mobilize meaningful opposition to Trump’s illegal war and their silence as AIPAC and corporations flood Congressional primaries with millions of dollars is deafening.”
“I cannot support this kind of leadership,” Vang said. “If we want to defeat Trump and rebuild trust with working Americans, we need new leadership and a new direction.”
“Most Democrats agree that he’s been failing to meet the moment,” said Adam Hamawy, a candidate in New Jersey’s 12th district, saying he is “looking for someone that’s gonna stand up to the administration.”
When asked if she would support Jeffries’ leadership, Claire Valdez, a New York State Assembly member who is running to replace retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), said in an interview with Axios that “there would need to be some conversations.”
