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Randy Mesa, a 30-year-old Cuban barber from Pinar del Río, has been detained for over a year at the Adams County Correctional Facility in Natchez, Mississippi, separated from his wife and with no release date in sight.
According to his statement to Univisión, Randy was arrested in June 2025 in Miami when he was attending an appointment at an immigration court, just months after marrying Roxana Reguero, also Cuban and a resident in the United States due to the Cuban Adjustment Act.
He entered the country in February 2022 through the southern border with form I-220A and claims to have no criminal record of any kind.
The couple dreamed of buying a house and opening a barbershop, but that plan was shattered.
"Practically all of that money and all the resources we had for that dream have gone to lawyers. It has been a dream that has collapsed," Roxana stated.
After his arrest, agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) pressured Randy to sign his self-deportation to Cuba.
He refused. He was first transferred to the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach, and then sent to Mississippi, more than a thousand kilometers away from his wife.
During the past year, his defense has attempted multiple legal avenues without success: asylum was denied, bail was denied, and more recently, a habeas corpus was filed to challenge the legality of his prolonged detention.
Randy himself listed his pending options: "I have my asylum appeal that was denied, I have my family petition with my wife, and I have my Cuban Adjustment that has never been canceled."
His defense lawyer warns that the transfer to Mississippi is not coincidental. "It's a strategy that the government has found effective. They have determined that people who are illegally detained do not deserve to have bail due to the way they entered the United States," he stated.
The physical and emotional impact on Randy has been severe: he has lost 30 pounds during his confinement.
Roxana, for her part, has had to work multiple jobs to cover legal expenses. She has only been able to visit her husband once in Mississippi. He himself asked her not to return, both due to the high cost of the trip and because of the state she was in after the visit.
"It has been a year of life that we have paused, and we don't know what is going to happen; we don't know what will happen to us," the woman expressed.
Randy's case fits into a pattern documented by human rights organizations: since 2025, ICE has intensified the detentions of Cubans with I-220A during their supervision appointments and asylum hearings, transferring them to facilities in remote states to hinder their legal defense.
The Adams County Correctional Center in Natchez has been identified as one of the recurring destinations for Cubans relocated from Florida, a phenomenon that also affected the Cuban rapper known as El Insurrecto, who was detained in December 2025 and sent to the same center.
The couple remains hopeful for a meeting with Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart, who has reportedly indicated that he will review the case.
From his cell in Mississippi, Randy sends a direct message: "There are human beings here, we are not criminals, we need the opportunity to prove it."
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