Tania Romero Naranjo, a 24-year-old Cuban woman from the Isle of Youth, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on June 26 while attending a routine check-in appointment.
A recent report from the journalist of Univision, Javier Díaz, specified that Romero Naranjo resides in the city of Portland, Texas, has been in the country for four years, and entered the United States with the I-220A form, a document that - as is known - does not grant definitive legal status nor is equivalent to a parole, leaving its holders in a permanent immigration limbo.
A working mother separated from her child
The case has a human element that has touched hundreds of people since it was made public: the young woman is a mother to a three-year-old boy who is a U.S. citizen and who, since his mother’s detention, has been under the care of his father.
Díaz described the husband as “desperate in light of this family crisis” and emphasized that during her four years in the country, Tania did not accumulate any criminal record and held a high-risk job.
Until the moment of her arrest, the young woman was working with fireproof materials to prevent fires in oil refineries, a job that, according to the journalist, "not all women would dare to do."
The family demands that she not be deported to Cuba or, at the very least, that she be allowed to await the outcome of her immigration process in freedom.
“The family needs to be heard and that Tania is not deported to Cuba as it would separate her from her American citizen son,” concluded the communicator.
Díaz's post sparked a wave of reactions dominated by solidarity.
“Deport those who commit crimes, but not hardworking individuals with no criminal record,” wrote a user, a viewpoint echoed by hundreds of similar comments.
Others pointed to the structural root: “The problem is that many were poorly processed; that left them in a very difficult legal limbo.”
The limbo of the I-220A: A problem affecting hundreds of thousands of Cubans.
The I-220A form is a Conditional Freedom Order issued by ICE that allows migrants to remain out of custody while their case progresses, but it does not open the path of the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, which permits applying for permanent residency after one year and one day in the country.
It is estimated that between 400,000 and 500,000 Cubans face this situation across the entire United States, trapped in a category that does not provide them with real protection against deportation.
Since the return of the Trump administration in January 2025, arrests during routine appointments have become a documented pattern.
The arrests of Cubans by ICE increased by 463% between late 2024 and early 2026, and the agency surpassed 10,000 arrests in just five days earlier this month.
Political pressure without response and similar cases
Tania's case is not an isolated one.
In May, ICE arrested two Cuban pastors in Harlingen, Texas, also during a supervision appointment.
The Republican Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar sent a formal letter on June 18 to the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, demanding parole-in-place for Cubans with I-220A without a criminal record.
"The I-220A should not mean legal limbo. For years, thousands of Cuban families have lived in uncertainty because the government has treated similar cases differently. That is not justice, and I will continue to fight until these families receive the fair treatment they deserve under the law," Salazar stated.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta held a hearing in December 2025 regarding the legal status of the I-220A, but to date, it has not issued a final ruling, leaving hundreds of thousands of Cuban families awaiting a resolution that could change their fate.
As of the closing of this report, there is no additional information regarding the case.
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