Related videos:
Yamir Manso Orozco, a 58-year-old Cuban with a pending asylum application, was released after spending four months and two days detained at the controversial Alligator Alcatraz detention center in the Florida Everglades, following his lawyers' filing of a habeas corpus petition with a federal court that ordered the government to hold a bail hearing.
Manso Orozco, owner of a remodeling business in Florida, was arrested by agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while driving, allegedly for committing a traffic violation, according to Telemundo.
Your case has been recorded in the Federal Court for the Middle District of Florida as Manso-Orozco v. Noem et al, filed on March 19, 2026, and resolved on April 15 by Judge Kyle C. Dudek, who ordered the government to provide you with the statutory process required under section 1226 of immigration law, including a bond hearing.
The conditions he described inside the center were extreme. "I would go up to four days without bathing. It was very intense. I truly mean it, very intense," declared Manso Orozco.
The Cuban recounted that he became so demoralized that the simple hug from his lawyer during a visit brought him to tears. "Can you imagine how much that meant to me?" he said.
A central obstacle in his case was the policy in place in Florida. The state's immigration courts have a mandate from the White House to deny bail to detainees. According to the lawyer, "one must go to the federal system for the federal court to order the immigration court to grant bail." The attorneys also warned that if action is not taken quickly at the federal level, detainees may be transferred to states that do not recognize access to bail.
After his release, Manso Orozco thanked his religious congregation and emotionally described his return to daily life. "I eat the food and savor it; when you have something you haven't eaten in a long time, it has all been truly wonderful," he said.
He is currently being monitored with a GPS on his phone while his migration process continues. He has his next court hearing in June, and in addition to asylum, he has a family petition filed by his mother.
The case of Manso Orozco is not isolated. Others have managed to escape from Alligator Alcatraz through the same means, including a Cuban released after six months at the center and another who reported an assault within the facility. By mid-May 2026, the center housed between 1,400 and 1,500 detainees, of which between 700 and 800 would be Cubans.
Alligator Alcatraz was built in eight days by order of Governor Ron DeSantis using emergency powers and opened in July 2025. Amnesty International described the treatment there as "torture" according to international standards, and its operation costs approximately one million dollars a day. In May 2026, DeSantis opened the door to its possible closure, describing it as "temporary."
Since January 2025, requests for habeas corpus from immigrants detained in the United States have surpassed the total from all previous administrations, with nearly 8,000 in 2025 alone, compared to 222 in 2024.
Filed under: