Lázaro Romero León, a 59-year-old Cuban who lived for nearly three decades in Puerto Rico, managed to return to the United States on May 8 after spending almost three months stranded in southern Mexico, where he was mistakenly deported despite a federal judge expressly prohibiting his expulsion from the country.
The story, reconstructed by BBC Mundo, reveals the flaws in the U.S. immigration system and the legal void that left the migrant trapped between two countries, without documents, resources, or a clear way to return.
Romero León resided in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, under the supervision of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Although a deportation order had been hanging over him since 2002, it had never been executed because Cuba refused to accept the return of citizens with criminal records.
"I had been signing for 28 years, without missing a single appointment. Until May 20, 2025, when six agents caught me outside my house and, without further explanation, took me away," he recalled.
After being transferred to ICE detention centers in Adelanto (California) and Florence (Arizona), he filed a habeas corpus petition in December 2025. Federal Judge Hernán Diego Vera ordered that he not be deported to Mexico until the case was resolved.
"The petitioner is prohibited from being transferred outside of the United States to Mexico until this court has fully resolved the request," the magistrate stated.
However, on February 16, 2026, ICE agents took him to the border and expelled him to Chiapas. Months later, the U.S. government itself acknowledged that it was all due to an "apparent communication error."
Three months trapped in Mexico
What followed was a long odyssey.
Without immigration documents, money, or belongings, Romero León survived in Tapachula thanks to donations and sleeping on the streets. He was detained several times by Mexican immigration authorities, held in a detention center, and even transferred to the border with Guatemala.
"I saw many others like me. It is filled with older Cubans, even grandparents, some sick, without money or papers, condemned to indigence," he said.
Meanwhile, her public defender, Margaret Farrand, was trying to secure her return to the United States.
The ICE tried to arrange his return, but Mexico rejected the documentation submitted for a flight to Tijuana. The lawyer even bought him a bus ticket for April 11, but Mexican immigration agents stopped him at a checkpoint and sent him back to a detention center. A second attempt ended the same way.
"How is it possible that there is a mechanism to deport someone to a country that is not their own, but there is none to bring them back?" Farrand questioned.
A legal vacuum
During the judicial process, special prosecutor Whitney Wakefield admitted that the informal agreement between the United States and Mexico only covers the transfer of migrants from U.S. territory back to Mexico and does not include a procedure to correct deportations carried out in error.
In light of that situation, Judge Vera warned the government that it could face sanctions for contempt during a hearing held on April 23, 2026.
Finally, Romero León managed to return to the United States on May 8.
A case that reflects the tightening of migration policies
The story of the Cuban takes place against the backdrop of the tightening of immigration policies driven by the Donald Trump administration.
According to the Cato Institute, arrests of Cuban citizens by ICE increased from fewer than 200 per month at the end of 2024 to over 1,000 per month one year later.
Additionally, a report by Human Rights Watch released in May indicates that between January 2025 and March 2026, the United States sent nearly 13,000 foreigners to Mexico, of which 4,353 were Cubans, the largest national group.
The Department of Homeland Security described Romero León as "a criminal illegal immigrant with an extensive criminal record" and stated that he received "a complete due process." The Cuban, who served sentences for crimes committed between 1997 and 2001, responds with a brief phrase: "I have already paid."
He currently resides in Palmdale, California, and continues to report periodically to an ICE office in Los Angeles while his immigration situation is still being processed.
Remembering the thousands of Cubans stranded in southern Mexico—about 800 in Tapachula and around 3,000 in Villahermosa, according to activists—leaves a reflection that summarizes their experience:
"It seems they want to send us to die over there."
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