Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Jorge Luis Díaz García in New Orleans, a Cuban citizen with a criminal record in the United States that includes charges of vehicular assault, four counts of reckless endangerment, and driving under the influence of alcohol.
The arrest, carried out this week without incident, is part of the federal campaign "The Worst of the Worst," aimed at identifying and deporting foreigners deemed high-risk to public safety. ICE did not specify the exact date of the arrest, but confirmed it took place in the early days of August in Louisiana.
The regional ICE office reported that Díaz García will be made available to an immigration judge and that his case will enter the deportation process. As is the case with other Cuban migrants with criminal records, the execution of the expulsion will depend on the response from the Havana regime, which has repeatedly refused to accept nationals with a criminal history.
In the same operation, Eduardo Fundora Setién, 59 years old, with convictions for domestic violence, and Eduardo Luis Machín Pozo, who has a long record of drug-related offenses, were arrested. Both cases add to that of Díaz García within ICE's strategy to remove immigrants who, according to the agency, pose a serious threat from circulation.
According to recent reports, at least seven Cubans with criminal records have been arrested by ICE in New Orleans in recent weeks, reflecting an increase in surveillance in that city.
Nationally, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) estimates that there are over 42,000 Cubans with final deportation orders in the United States, although many have not been removed because Havana refuses to accept them.
The overall figures highlight the scale of the operations: between January and June of this year alone, ICE made over 129,000 immigrant arrests, and in the last eight weeks, an additional 50,000 have been recorded.
Most of the detainees are Mexican and Central American citizens, but Cubans are increasingly appearing in the statistics.
The latest repatriation flight to Cuba transported 118 people, including 96 men and 22 women. In cases where the Cuban regime refuses to accept repatriates with criminal records, Washington considers transferring them to third countries with which it has migration cooperation agreements.
ICE reiterated that it will continue to apply "all available legal tools" to keep immigrants with criminal histories out of the United States and urged those with open cases to seek legal advice.
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