Vivian Pérez, a Cuban with an I-220B in Florida who is about to be deported to the island despite being the mother of a two-year-old child with a condition that requires special attention, spoke from the Broward Center where she is detained and urged authorities not to separate families.
"I don't see myself in Cuba at all, nor do I see myself away from my child either. It's not fair for a 2-year-old child with ADHD to be left alone. Given the condition for which the child needs speech therapy, it's not fair to separate him from his mother," she asserted in statements to Telemundo 51.
"I don't have to do anything in Cuba. I am going to be persecuted by State Security. I post many political things on my social media, and that's why many relatives don't talk to me because they say I am counter-revolutionary," said the woman.
Osmani Pérez, her husband, who is a U.S. citizen, has taken charge of the couple's son.
"I collapsed, I didn't even know what to do... As a man, you want to be strong, but there are moments when you break down," he explained.
Vivian Pérez says that her husband must be feeling the weight of the new family reality.
"Right now he must really be feeling like a child because as you can see, he has the workshop and he goes out to work, and I’m the one who does everything with the child, I sleep with the child," she explained.
"Do not separate families. It is not fair to separate families. I don't think I am a danger to be here in this society," he concluded.
Participant in the MPP Immigration program, initiated by the United States in 2019, Vivian missed a court appointment, and an in absentia deportation was automatically granted to her. After 4 years, that document, I-220b, is taking a toll on her.
The lawyer Eduardo Soto, who is handling the case, stated that a credible fear application was filed a year ago.
"It cannot, according to the laws of this country, be removed from the United States until its credible fear request is processed, and that requires a physical interview," he emphasized.
Vivian Pérez was detained on July 15 during her annual appointment with Immigration at the ICE office in the city of Miramar. She had had three similar appointments in previous years, but this time they did not let her leave. At noon, she called and told her husband that they were going to keep her inside to deport her.
Other Cubans detained and at risk of imminent deportation
In recent days, reports of imminent deportation have multiplied. The situation is even more concerning due to the increase in the number of Cubans without criminal records detained during their appointments with Immigration.
This week, Marien Acosta, a young Cuban woman who is five months pregnant and a mother of a girl, reported how her family has been torn apart after her husband, Mario de León Díaz, 26, was detained during what seemed to be a routine appointment with ICE, where he had an Order of Supervision and Deportation (I-220B) against him.
In recent days, the case of Yoselianys Rodríguez was also in the news. She is married to a Cuban doctor who is also a U.S. citizen.
Last week, the case of Lisván Isidrón Cabrera, 26 years old, was also made known. He entered the United States in March 2021 at the border, was granted credible fear, but lost his political asylum case before immigration authorities. He was now detained by ICE after attending his immigration appointment.
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