José Antonio González, a 51-year-old Cuban, was deported to Mexico in December 2025 after nearly four decades living in the United States, due to offenses he committed as a minor in the 90s. He served his sentence and rebuilt his life, but at the age of 51, he has had to start over far from his loved ones.
González arrived in the United States in January 1987, at the age of nine, crossing the border from Canada. Since then, he has built his life there: he worked, paid taxes, and supported his family.
"It has been a very drastic change for me because I spent my entire life in the United States. I was the support of my family. My 82-year-old mother depended on me, as did my children and my wife. It has been too much for me," he recounted in an interview.
Regarding the offenses that led to his deportation, he was straightforward: "When I was young, I made my mistakes. I was sentenced in 1994, served my time, got out in 2001, but that's it. I never had any more problems. I worked, paid my taxes, and dedicated myself to my family." In his own words, he did not commit serious or violent crimes and emphasizes that it was during his teenage years.
The deportation process began when he went to a routine immigration appointment where ICE detained him. "One day I went to immigration and that's where they detained me. I was held for six months without signing anything, forced. They deported me against my will," he explained.
I had a I-220B form, a supervision order indicating that there is a final deportation order pending execution. The lawyer Willy Allen, previously consulted, was categorical regarding these cases: "The I-220B, which was your case, had nothing that could be done, and he advised them to leave the United States voluntarily."
ICE interviewed José Antonio González three times, asking him to voluntarily sign his departure. In the first two instances, he refused. "In the third, they told me either sign or don’t sign, whether I liked it or not, you’re leaving," he said in an interview with Tania Costa in CiberCuba.
The deportation was carried out at night. "One night they came for me; they handcuffed me, put me on a bus, and took me to the border. Upon reaching the border, they handed me over to the Mexican authorities," he described.
From the border, the Mexican authorities transported him by bus for 36 hours to Tabasco, where he was released in the early hours of the morning. There he was informed that he had 10 days to appear before the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR). After spending a night in a hotel, he traveled on his own to Cancún.
The six months at the detention center in Texas were devastating: "Horrible. The food was terrible, the treatment was awful. And the medical care was also very poor. The food is so bad that sometimes worms come inside it."
His 82-year-old mother remains in the United States living with his brother. She wants to visit him, but her advanced age makes it difficult. His wife and children, all U.S. citizens, also stayed on the other side of the border.
The case of José Antonio González is not an isolated one. According to a report by Human Rights Watch published on May 27, 2026, between January 20, 2025, and March 9, 2026, the Trump administration deported over 4,300 Cubans to Mexico. Of these, 26% had no criminal record and only 16% had a violent crime as their most serious conviction.
He himself mentioned in CiberCuba that there are around twenty Cubans in the same situation as him, some of whom are 'Marielitos,' who have been living in the United States for over forty years. He also referenced a Cuban with an I-220A who was deported to Mexico while having a pending asylum process.
Now José Antonio González plans to apply for a migration pardon to return legally to the United States, the only country he considers his true home: "This country isn't bad, but I don't adapt," he said when asked about his stay in Mexico.
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