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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported this Thursday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a detainment order against the Cuban Yusel Keoma Pérez-Leyva, 42 years old, and requested the authorities in Florida to prevent his release once the judicial process he faces for alleged kidnapping and sexual assault against a woman in Miami is concluded, as reported by Fox News.
Pérez-Leyva was arrested on June 18 in Doral after a woman reported being drugged and sexually assaulted after leaving a nightclub in Miami Beach in the early hours of June 4.
According to the report from the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office, the victim woke up hours later in the emergency room of HCA Florida Palm Lakes in Hialeah, without remembering how they had gotten there.
"She believes she was drugged... as a result, she lost consciousness and only remembers leaving the nightclub... She thinks she was raped," the police report states.
The investigation includes surveillance camera footage that, according to authorities, shows the accused carrying the woman, who appears to be unconscious, to an apartment located near Miami Lakes.
During the interrogation, detectives from the Special Victims Unit indicated that Pérez-Leyva admitted to having picked up the woman while working as an Uber driver and acknowledged having had sexual relations with her while he was intoxicated.
The Cuban is facing two charges of first-degree felonies: kidnapping, which can be punished with life in prison, and sexual assault against a physically incapacitated victim, a crime that carries a penalty of up to 30 years in prison.
On June 20, a judge denied him bail and ordered that he remain in custody while the judicial process continues. The formal reading of charges is scheduled for July 9 before Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Alberto Milian.
In a statement, Acting Deputy Secretary of DHS, Lauren Bis, stated that the accused entered the United States illegally through Arizona in 2021 and blamed the administration of former President Joe Biden for allowing him to remain in the country.
"This illegal immigrant from Cuba is accused of raping and kidnapping a woman in Miami. ICE has issued a detainer against him, and due to Florida's cooperation with ICE, he will be transferred to the custody of that agency and will not be released back into American communities," he stated.
According to the DHS, ICE formally requested the Miami-Dade Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to notify immigration authorities prior to any potential release of the accused, so that they can be placed in federal custody.
Florida maintains cooperation agreements with ICE and typically complies with immigration detention orders issued by the federal agency, unlike other jurisdictions known as "sanctuary cities."
The case adds to other proceedings recorded in recent years in South Florida against transportation platform drivers accused of sexual crimes against passengers, including those of Yaroslandys Elozegui Romero, Yadir Alejandro Góngora, and Wilder Ariel Sosa Olivero, all arrested in independent investigations.
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