The United States Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, highlighted this Monday in Sarasota, Florida, a series of operations by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) against undocumented immigrants with criminal records, including a Cuban convicted of homicide.
According to an official statement from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the detainee, Erick Carlos Artiles Ramos, was presented as one of the "worst of the worst" arrested in central and southern Florida.
Artiles, identified as an illegal immigrant from Cuba, has convictions for homicide, kidnapping, robbery, and driving under the influence of alcohol, according to the DHS.
Noem stated that 70% of ICE arrests involve undocumented immigrants with convictions or criminal charges in the United States. "President Trump deployed ICE to target the worst foreign illegal offenders," the official declared during her visit to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office.
However, the official data does not entirely align with Noem's version. According to figures from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, as of September 21, 71.5% of those detained by ICE had no criminal background, which contradicts the DHS's claim that the majority are convicted criminals.
Transfer to prison in Louisiana
The name of Artiles Ramos does not appear for the first time on a list from the U.S. government. In September 2025, DHS itself had included him in a statement about 51 undocumented immigrants detained at the Louisiana State Prison, known as Louisiana Lockup or Angola Prison. At that time, he was described as “an illegal foreign criminal from Cuba, convicted of murder-homicide.”
This coincidence suggests that the Cuban may have been arrested in Florida and subsequently transferred to Louisiana, where ICE holds hundreds of detainees considered high-risk.
Florida and the 287(g) agreements
During her visit, and according to Florida Politics, Noem praised Florida's cooperation with the federal government under the 287(g) program, which allows local law enforcement to collaborate with ICE in identifying and deporting undocumented immigrants.
“Florida has been the state that has granted the most agreements with law enforcement under section 287(g),” Noem noted. Currently, the 67 counties in the state are required to sign these contracts, driven by Republican lawmakers and supported by Governor Ron DeSantis.
The secretary also defended the voluntary self-deportation program announced by the Trump administration, which offers a thousand dollars and plane tickets to those who choose to return to their countries of origin. According to the DHS, 1.6 million people have self-deported and more than 400,000 have been deported since January.
Filed under:
