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The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed on Sunday the arrests of two undocumented Cuban nationals with multiple criminal records for violent offenses committed in that country, who are awaiting deportation.
A statement from the federal agency on social media platform X indicated that ICE officials in Detroit, Michigan, arrested the undocumented Cuban immigrant Aliosky Rosales Michelena, whose dangerous criminal history includes murder, armed robbery, and aggravated assault of a person over 65 years old.
According to the publication, Rosales Michelena's parents obtained legal residency in the U.S., but he chose a life connected to crime in Florida.
The Cuban received a final deportation order in 2010. ICE in Detroit "will ensure that he is deported," the federal agency warned unequivocally.
Rafael Cortina Pantoja was also arrested, described as a Cuban irregular criminal, convicted of armed robbery, five counts of armed kidnapping, armed robbery with assault, burglary, and theft.
Cortina Pantoja is currently detained at the migrant detention center known as Alligator Alcatraz, in the Everglades, awaiting his expulsion. In his case, the agency did not specify whether he already had a final deportation order.
The administration of President Donald Trump prioritizes an aggressive policy against illegal immigration in the country. The strategy, led by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), includes raids and major operations by ICE, the Border Patrol, and other agencies, alongside state and local law enforcement, to locate, detain, and deport immigrants without legal status, including those who have served time in prison or have pending criminal charges.
The DHS has reiterated that around 70% of those arrested are convicted criminals or facing criminal charges. However, human rights organizations, community leaders, legal experts, and members of civil society have refuted the government's claims, denouncing the arrest and deportation of individuals with no criminal record, who have lived in the country for years, paid taxes, and supported their families.
In the case of Cubans, from January 2025 until February 19, the Trump administration returned 1,784 individuals to Cuba on flights chartered by ICE. In the second air operation of this year, 116 nationals from the island were deported, bringing the total number of Cuban citizens expelled during the two terms of the Republican president to 5,169, a record in U.S. history, according to figures compiled by the site Café Fuerte.
For years, deportation flights from the U.S. to the island did not include Cubans with criminal records who had settled in that country before 2017. The regime in Havana systematically refused to accept these individuals, rejecting their inclusion in the lists of deportables submitted by the State Department.
However, on February 9, during the first deportation flight of ICE to Cuba conducted in 2026, 170 Cubans were returned, including at least 50 with convictions for serious crimes such as murder, rape, kidnapping, and drug trafficking. This is the first time that the Cuban government has accepted back ineligible criminals.
"Although deportation flights to Cuba have existed for some time, the Cuban government has been reluctant to accept mass deportation flights from the United States. However, under the Trump administration, these repatriation flights are occurring at record numbers," ICE stated in a press release.
More than 42,000 Cubans ineligible for legal residency in the United States, with a final deportation order, according to official DHS data.
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