A Cuban citizen, accused of assault and committing a serious crime with weapons, was detained by the United States Border Patrol (USBP) in the city of Portland, Oregon, and is in the process of deportation.
The announcement was made by the head of the Patrol, Michael W. Banks, in a post on the agency's official account on the social network X, accompanied by a video of the immigrant's detention by masked and heavily armed agents.
Banks reported that the "dangerous" Cuban citizen was arrested on October 21 by the Special Operations Group of the USBP in a city in the northwest of the U.S., but did not disclose his name or immigration status.
He specified that the man was wanted for aggravated assault with a weapon and a charge of a felony with weapons. "The deportation proceedings are already underway," he emphasized.
The post begins by paraphrasing the opening of the original theme from a 90s American series, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, starring Will Smith; it also features a verse from the song, of which the artist himself is one of the authors and performers.
“This is the story of how… this criminal’s life took a complete turn!”, wrote Banks, sarcastically referring to the capture and imminent expulsion of the Cuban.
The Border Patrol did not provide any further details about this arrest.
The case adds to the numerous detentions of undocumented migrants from Cuba in recent months, framed within the intense crackdown being carried out by immigration agencies—led by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)—and law enforcement across all states of the union, as part of the immigration policy implemented since January by the Donald Trump administration.
In recent weeks, numerous arrests of Cubans with irregular immigration status have come to light, among whom several have multiple criminal records for serious offenses.
In the first case, there are Cubans with I-220A immigration status who, despite having fulfilled all their immigration obligations and having no criminal record, were detained by ICE and will be deported, a measure that their relatives and lawyers deem arbitrary and unjust.
But dozens of Cubans with criminal records or accused of serious crimes have also been arrested, many of whom are regarded by federal authorities as a threat to public safety and classified as “the worst of the worst”, a ranking of the most dangerous foreign offenders in the country.
This week, several Cubans were among the 230 arrested in the “Operation DirtBag” by ICE in the state of Florida, mainly focused on identifying and apprehending sex offenders.
ICE has intensified its offensive to remove illegal migrants with criminal records from communities within the United States. The agency has reiterated as a priority the arrest of foreigners deemed a threat to national public safety and their final deportation from the country.
However, the expulsion of Cuban citizens often becomes a complex and prolonged process due to the Cuban government's refusal to accept individuals with a criminal record who have been outside the country since before the 2017 migration agreements.
According to official data from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), more than 42,000 Cubans have final deportation orders, but the reluctance of the Havana regime to accept them back has complicated the expulsion processes.
For this reason, Cubans with extensive criminal records and final deportation orders have been sent to third countries, even though they have no personal connections to these places and face the risk of torture or death, as reported by human rights organizations and legal experts.
At least four Cubans have been deported to African countries, such as South Sudan, the Kingdom of Eswatini, and Rwanda, while others were transferred to Mexico.
In the meantime, deportation flights from the U.S. to citizens accepted by the island's government continue to take place each month, in compliance with the existing immigration agreements between both countries.
The most recent air operation for the return of migrants was reported on November 6, when 232 were returned to Cuba. With this group, the total number of individuals deported by the Trump administration in 2025 reaches 1,231, a figure that far surpasses the total recorded (978) by President Joe Biden's administration since deportation flights resumed by ICE in April 2023.
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