Immigration authorities release some of the Cuban migrants detained in South Florida

U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement released several Cuban migrants that were recently detained in South Florida after family members, local officials, and immigration activists spent days advocating for them to be freed from the agency’s custody.

“I feel much calmer because this was truly torture,” said Yedanys Morffi Pérez, a 45-year-old Cuban migrant who was detained, after being released on Saturday night.

It’s not the first time Morffi Pérez has been held in one of the agency’s detention centers. He first crossed the southern border into the United States in June 2019. He fled Cuba after he was fired from his job for speaking up against the government and assaulted when Cuban officials confiscated onions from his farm on his way to sell them in Havana.

During over a year and a half in a Louisiana facility, the courts denied his asylum claim and handed down a deportation order. But Cuba, which stopped receiving deportation flights during the COVID-19 pandemic, would not take him back. He was released in January 2021 and began working at a fuel company.

“I have a work permit, a Social Security number, a good job,” he said.

The Miami Herald interviewed several Cuban migrants with stories similar to Morffi Pérez while they were at Broward Transitional Center, an ICE detention center for immigrants in Pompano Beach. Many said they escaped Cuba after facing political persecution. They entered the United States through the southern border under Donald Trump’s administration, spent as many as two years in ICE facilities in Louisiana and elsewhere, and had asylum claims denied.

ICE had released the Cuban migrants shortly before and in the early days of the Biden administration. They were under supervision with orders to check in with authorities. Since then, they had received work authorization and were often the primary breadwinners for loved ones living in South Florida.

The Cuban migrants said ICE told them in mid-October that they had missed check-in appointments, which they denied. They told the Herald that officials called them to their Miramar location, where they detained them and informed them they would be sent back to Cuba.

Other detainees said they had been surprised at home and at work as far as Orlando. They estimated that about 40 of them had been taken to the Broward County facility. While in custody, one detainee showed a revocation of release to the Herald that said that his case was under the Cuban government’s review for the issuance of travel documents.

“Your world falls apart,” said Denier Fernández Polo, one of the Cuban migrants, about facing possible deportation.

Fernández Polo, an electrician from the central province of Camagüey, said he had “immediately” decided to come to the United States in April 2019 after being jailed for several days in Cuba for protesting against the government. But after presenting himself to authorities at a border bridge in El Paso, he spent 19 months detained in an ICE facility in Louisiana before being freed with a deportation order in November 2020.

He traveled to meet his cousin Dayneri García in Texas after being released on Saturday night.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials recorded over 224,000 encounters with Cuban nationals in the last fiscal government year, which ended last month. They entered the U.S. through the U.S.-Mexico border and on illegal sea voyages on makeshift boats that often land on Florida’s shores. The record number of Cubans coming to the US — greatly surpassing the about 39,000 encounters recorded in fiscal year 2021 — occur as conditions in Cuba deteriorate.

“Cuba is a country where society, the repression against people, and the economy are worsening every day. What is happening is terrible,” said Fernández Polo.

“A horror movie”

Relatives described the sheer desperation and extreme stress they felt when ICE took their loved ones into custody this week. They feared what the detainees could face if returned to their home country, the separation of their families, and not being able to pay for basic needs such as housing and healthcare in South Florida.

“I lived through a horror movie,” said Maday Rodriguez, Morffi Pérez’s wife.

The university physical education professor came to the United States in January to reunite with her husband after over two and a half years of separation. She ran away from police and barely escaped jailing during the July 11 protests.

“I don’t even know how I got out of Cuba alive,” said Rodriguez, “We sold our house, everything. We don’t have anything in Cuba. Neither of us can go back.”

Morffi Pérez is also supporting his 18-year-old son who recently came from Cuba to the United States with his mother. The teenager fled after authorities pressured him to join the military service after he participated in the July 11, said Morffi Pérez. Other detainees also told the Miami Herald they were taking care of pregnant and postpartum spouses, young children, and sick family members in Miami at the time they were detained.

On Saturday night, family members and activists reached out to the Miami Herald and said the detainees were being released from ICE custody. Annette Taddeo, a Democratic state senator and U.S. Congress candidate, said on Twitter that the Biden administration had confirmed this to her directly.

“Now to ensure this never happens again,” she said, “The Democrats and Republicans must remain united with the Cuban exile.”

Maria Bilbao, an immigration activist and American Friends Service Committee campaign coordinator, questioned why immigration authorities had detained the Cuban migrants in the first place.

“The government has to clarify what happened, it cannot happen again,” she said.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return a request for comment. However, one of its spokespersons had previously told the Miami Herald when it inquired about the case that “regardless of nationality, custody determinations are made on a case-by-case basis.”

“Associated decisions are made in a professional and responsible manner, informed by the experience of law enforcement officials and in a way that best protects against the greatest threats to the homeland,” the DHS spokesperson said.

The detainees’ relatives have spent days organizing on a Whatsapp group, speaking to press and protesting in front of Versailles, a Cuban restaurant that is a Miami institution and the site of demonstrations that involve South Florida’s Cuban community.

Ángeles Colina, a 33-year-old Venezuelan immigrant whose spouse Yoan Vega was detained, said the couple is expecting their first child. She has received “thousands of messages” from her spouse’s barber shop clients who are dismayed about Vega’s situation. She was joyful on her way to pick him up on Sunday, but was still reeling from the fear she had felt because of the situation.

“We are good people who left our countries fleeing from dictatorship,” she said, “and what has happened here is simply outrageous.”

It’s unclear how many detainees are still in custody. Some were still at Broward Transitional Center on Sunday, but had signed release papers, according to relatives, who said they will not rest until everyone leaves the facility.

Morffi Perez, along with some of the other detainees, were released with ankle monitors — which ICE uses as an alternative to detention. He is struggling with the anxiety of being detained again or sent back to Cuba.

“I feel fear, terror, panic,” he said.

This story was originally published October 23, 2022 at 10:52 AM.