Editor's note: This story's content was updated on July 11, 2025, after the National Archives provided Snopes with documentation and audio verifying previous reports of Pedro Víctor García's immigration story.
In mid-June 2025, social media users circulated a rumor online claiming that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio's grandfather once lived in the United States as an undocumented immigrant.
The claim spread on platforms like X, Bluesky and Facebook.
While Rubio's grandfather, Pedro Víctor García, first entered the United States with proper documents and lived in the country with legal immigration status for about two years, he returned to Cuba and then attempted to reenter without legal authorization in 1962, as first reported by Washington Post writer Manuel Roig-Franzia in an excerpt from his book, "The Rise of Marco Rubio," in 2012.
García did, in fact, receive a deportation order from an immigration judge. However, García's immigration documents indicate he received parolee status sometime after the order, though the paperwork does not specify when. Parolee status is a gray area of the law allowing temporary legal residency without the possibility of permanent residency. Despite his parolee status, the United States granted him permanent residency in 1967 after immigration laws changed in his favor.
Thus, this claim contains a mixture of truth and falsehood.
The reporting in this story was based on the National Archives' "Alien Case File" for a "Pedro Garcia," which matches details of García's life, including his birth date, the name of his mother and his disabilities, according to Rubio's account of his grandfather in his memoir, "An American Son."
The secretary of state's office did not return an inquiry about Rubio's grandfather's immigration status. Rubio reportedly told Time Magazine in 2013 that he never knew "his grandfather had lived in the U.S. illegally," but that his grandfather's story reflects how "complicated" immigration policy is. Rubio also reportedly told the Times in 2016 that while he recognized some people may believe his grandfather's story conflicts with Rubio's own views on immigration, "foreign infiltrators like the Islamic State" have become more sophisticated and more dangerous.
According to the National Archives files, Rubio's grandfather first entered the United States as a legal immigrant in 1956, but returned to Cuba about two years later. Later, he told an immigration judge through an interpreter that he went back to Cuba because he failed to find steady work in the United States.
"I had to go back to Cuba to work there because I didn't want to be supported by my daughters, my sons-in-law," he said, according to audio of a 1962 hearing.
Left: Pedro Víctor García's visa allowing entrance in 1956. Right: An immigration officer flags García for potential deportation after he attempted to reenter the country in 1962. (National Archives)
García took a government job in Cuba recording payments owed by bus and truck drivers. As time went on, however, he began to feel "more disillusioned" toward the Fidel Castro regime, as an official at his immigration hearing put it. His immigration documents also said his family was in the United States, and he had no family in Cuba. So, in the summer of 1962, he boarded Pan American Airlines Flight 2422 bound for Miami, Florida.
But when the plane landed, García did not have proper documents granting entrance to the country. Officials summoned him for an immigration hearing on Oct. 4, 1962, to decide whether he would remain in the country:
García's summons to an immigration hearing to determine whether he would be allowed to stay in the United States. (National Archives)
That hearing did not go well for García. Although many Cubans were entering the country as refugees at the time, the special inquiry officer presiding over the hearing — a type of immigration judge — said that since he "seeks admission as a returning resident, he must be considered an immigrant," not a refugee, and he "lacks the proper documentation for such an admission."
In other words, as Roig-Franzia reported: "In the eyes of the United States government, he is not a political exile. He is a man who has broken immigration laws."
Here's a transcript of the officer's
OFFICER: Based on the foregoing findings of fact, I conclude that: One, the applicant is subject to exclusion under the provisions of section 212 820 of the Immigration and Nationality Act as an immigrant not in possession of a valid unexpired immigrant visa and not exempted from the possession thereof by [unintelligible]. The order is that the applicant be excluded from the country in the United States.
JUDGE: Mr. Garcia, do you understand my words?
GARCÍA: Yes, I do.
OFFICER: You have a right if you wish to appeal from my decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals in Washington. Do you wish to take such an appeal?
GARCÍA: How can I appeal if I don't have any money?
OFFICER: The right to appeal — the appeal has nothing to do with money or anything else. The law, the regulations say you have a right to appeal. If you have no funds, then the regulations say that you can appeal without funds. Also, you can write any document you wish yourself on the appeal. Question is, do you wish to appeal for my decision or do you accept my decision?
GARCÍA: I accept.
The special inquiry officer's decision made it into a written document, as well:
A document showing the immigration officer's final decision to exclude García from entry into the United States. (National Archives)
But despite the order, García continued to live in the United States, according to his immigration documents. Then, in 1966, the Cuban Adjustment Act passed, allowing Cubans who entered the United States since Jan. 1, 1959, to apply for permanent residency after living in the country for two years (later amended to one year).
García applied for permanent residency in 1967. His application documents said he entered the United States as a parolee, indicating that someone in the immigration office may have reversed or defied the initial immigration judge's order. The Times speculated that someone may have "taken pity" on him, given his injured leg and multiple medical ailments.
Pedro Victor Garcia's permanent residency application from 1967 said he entered the United States in 1962 as a "parolee." (National Archives)
Pedro Victor Garcia's permanent residency application from 1967 said he received Cuban refugee status in 1965. (National Archives)
His documents also said he listed Cuban refugee status "since February 1965," indicating that he may have been granted refugee status retroactively. García received the official stamp of approval on his permanent residency status on Sept. 13, 1967.
In sum, while García did, in fact, receive a deportation order for entering the country without legal authorization, he also appeared to receive official approval allowing him to live in the country legally.