Zunami Pérez, wife of young Cuban Víctor Manuel Izquierdo Peralta, returned to the Island on April 24 along with 82 other deportees, is pleading for clemency so that her husband can return to the United States and await the ongoing marriage process in this country, as she is an American citizen. "We are suffering. My child should grow up with his parents," she said in a video sent to CiberCuba.
"No one should have to endure such great pain. I just ask that they let him return to raise his child," she added, visibly devastated. They both have a one-year-and-nine-month-old son together.
Víctor Manuel Izquierdo, 21 years old, entered the United States through the Mexico border in 2019 when he was a minor and was given an I-220B document at that time. Since then, he had been attending his annual appointment with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) accompanied by his mother. However, in August 2024, he turned 21, and during his appointment on March 28, 2025, he was arrested in Tampa and transferred to the Krome Immigration Detention Center, and from there to Broward jail, before being deported to Cuba, where he has neither a home nor family.
In addition to having the marriage petition, Víctor Manuel Izquierdo was working, had no legal issues, and no criminal record. "He is very proper. He entered this country as a minor. We had high hopes that they would take all of that into account so he could stay here while waiting for his marriage petition process, reporting as required, always doing everything he needed to ensure everything went smoothly," his wife explains in an audio message sent to this platform during the week of his deportation.
Víctor Manuel Izquierdo's situation is difficult because legally, he can only return to the United States if he obtains a pardon, a process that takes between three to five years to be granted. There is also the possibility of applying for a humanitarian visa, which is extremely difficult to get approved, but not impossible, as explained this Monday by immigration lawyer Willy Allen.
Republican Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar has also spoken out about the case of the mother I-220B, who was deported to Cuba and separated from her breastfeeding baby. The case of Heidy Sánchez Tejeda, which has shocked the Cuban community in Florida, is exactly like that of Víctor Manuel Izquierdo. Both are parents, lived in Tampa, have been separated from their children, and had I-220B. According to the Republican representative, both could have been 'saved' if the Dignity Act she wishes to promote in Congress had been approved.
The I-220B immigration status makes it almost impossible to legalize in the United States. In fact, attorney Willy Allen has explained in statements to CiberCuba that, in his opinion, "the Cubans who should be the most concerned are those with I-220B".
"For me, the Cubans who have to bear the greatest concern—and we have discussed this countless times—are the I-220B. The path for a 220B to legalize in the United States is almost impossible, because once you have a 220B, you have lost your asylum and were deported, or you lost your credible fear and were deported, or you failed to appear in court and were deported," stated the prestigious lawyer.
Filed under:
