The Cuban Yoendrys Leyva, a raft passenger who arrived in the United States in 2017, just a few months after the end of the wet feet, dry feet policy, pleaded with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) not to deport him and separate him from his family, whose survival depends on him.
The video, sent to journalist Mario J. Pentón, reveals the drama of a home that lives between hospitals, medical crises, and a constant fear of detention.
Leyva reported that upon entering the country without legal protection, he was processed and received a final deportation order (I-220B), which has forced him to regularly report to immigration authorities for years.
But the new immigration control measures put him this week on the verge of being detained, despite claiming to be an honest worker, with no criminal record and the sole breadwinner for his household.
Her testimony breaks when she shows her youngest daughter, born in Tampa in 2020, diagnosed with severe cerebral palsy after suffering a seizure shortly after being born at six months of gestation.
The girl cannot hold up her head, cannot walk, does not eat by mouth, and depends on a feeding tube. Her seizures are constant and have forced the family to spend entire months in intensive care and hospitals in Georgia.
“Here is my family… I am the breadwinner of this home. What would happen to them if I am deported?” he lamented. “My little girl is very sick, she needs me. We don’t want to be a public burden.”
His wife, Ana María Leyva, a legal resident since 2019, also requested help while looking at the camera. She explained that she cannot work due to the serious condition of their daughter and that without her husband, who also takes care of their other two children, one of whom is a minor, they would literally be “on the street.” Two of the minors are U.S. citizens.
“Please don’t separate us,” she said. “I only come home one weekend a month because I live in hospitals with my daughter. If they arrest my husband, my family will be left with nothing.”
The family claims to have initiated all possible procedures, including a family petition (I-130), immigration waivers, and pending legal processes before USCIS. Nevertheless, the risk of detention was imminent.
Leyva reported that during the meeting last Tuesday in Atlanta, an ICE agent confessed to him that the initial intention was to arrest him, but they backed off upon seeing the condition of the girl.
However, they sent him back to Savannah with the order to appear again and "bring all the documents," which heightened the family's distress.
Case update
Journalist Mario J. Pentón reported that he was able to speak with Ana María Leyva on Thursday and confirmed that Yoendrys was not detained at his appointment with ICE. The authorities allowed him to return home and continue working while his immigration case is still in process.
The family breathes today with a momentary sense of relief, but their situation remains fragile and marked by uncertainty. Their story reflects the drama of hundreds of Cubans who arrived after the end of wet foot, dry foot and find themselves trapped between deportation orders, new immigration policies, and the moral and human impossibility of leaving behind those who depend on them for survival.
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