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Arianne Betancourt, a 33-year-old American citizen, resigned from her job and dedicated six months of her life to a single cause: to free her Cuban father from the controversial Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention center in Florida, where Justo Betancourt was confined after attending a routine appointment with immigration authorities.
Justo, 55 years old, arrived in the United States as a teenager in 1990 and had been in the country for over three decades when ICE detained him on October 29, 2025 in Miramar, Florida, along with 15 other men who were waiting in line with him for the same appointment.
Arianne was waiting for him in the car when she understood what had happened: "A woman appeared, shouting that her husband had called to tell her that he and the other 15 men who were in line with him had been arrested."
From that moment on, Justo's eldest daughter did not stop.
Three days after the arrest, he was already participating in vigils outside the center, organized by Workers Circle, a nonprofit organization that supports social justice in Jewish communities and that has been holding these vigils since July 2025.
Arianne had been working in the tourism industry for 10 years, but the situation forced her to resign when she was informed that they would deport her father to Mexico, despite him being Cuban.
"They told me that he would have to go to Mexico. Basically, what I did was quit my job and prepare to pack all my things into the car, drive there, and meet up with him," she stated.
Mexico rejected Justo for health reasons: he suffers from type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and schizophrenia, and during his detention, he experienced what is suspected to have been a stroke, without his family or legal defense being notified.
"I was never informed that my father had suffered a stroke; nor was the legal defense informed. We do not have access to the records of the times he was hospitalized during his detention," Arianne reported.
After being rejected by Mexico, Justo returned to Alligator Alcatraz, and Arianne intensified her activism: she organized vigils in South Florida, traveled to protests in other cities, and launched a GoFundMe campaign that raised over $18,600 from 447 donors to cover medical and rehabilitation expenses.
The release took place on May 15, 2026, in the early morning, at the Krome North Processing Center in Miami, following a habeas corpus petition that federal judge Kyle Dudek granted on May 13, determining that the detention had been erroneous.
What Arianne felt when she saw her father getting out of the van left her heartbroken: "The moment I saw him get out of the van, and saw how thin he was, and how difficult it was for him to take each step... I'm glad he's home, but I'm also furious about the state he's in."
Days after his release, Justo was hospitalized again with suspected mini-strokes; the doctors were unable to perform an MRI because the electronic ankle bracelet prevented it.
The case took an unexpected political dimension when President Donald Trump posted a message on Truth Social last Monday celebrating the release: "Welcome home, Justo Betancourt, whose daughter, Arianne, tirelessly fought to free her father from Alcatraz prison."
The family reacted with bewilderment to that gesture, according to the reaction of the Cuban family.
Arianne was straightforward: "It's a surprise because I've never supported these policies. I've always been against them. It's very confusing. I think it has a lot to do with the current political climate in Cuba and the importance of preserving the Cuban vote."
Despite the exhaustion and having lost her job, Arianne has no regrets: "I had to leave everything behind and start over. You know it's scary, but it was worth it because my dad is with me."
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