A Cuban identified as Yasmany Vega Rodríguez posted a video on TikTok saying goodbye to the United States from what appears to be an airport, announcing his voluntary return to Cuba while holding a I-220A immigration document.
In the recording, the man appears with a black suitcase and an overlaid text summarizing his decision: "I-220A I'm leaving with a suitcase full of memories and my heart on the way home."
The video was tagged with the terms #selfdeported and #i220a, which places it within a growing trend of Cubans with that document choosing to voluntarily leave the country before facing detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The case of Vega Rodríguez adds to other similar cases documented in recent months. In January, a Cuban identified as @yandrydz explained on TikTok that he declared "voluntary departure" to the authorities at the airport. In May, Diana Fonseca announced on social media that she voluntarily left the U.S. and returned to Cuba with an active I-220A.
The I-220A is a supervised release order issued by ICE that allows a migrant to remain in U.S. territory while their immigration process continues. It is not equivalent to humanitarian parole, does not grant permanent residency or automatic protection against deportation, and does not guarantee eligibility for the Cuban Adjustment Act.
What many holders of that document do not know —or ignore— is that voluntarily leaving the U.S. with an active I-220A may be interpreted as abandoning the immigration process, weakening or invalidating a pending asylum application, and triggering periods of inadmissibility ranging from three to ten years for reentering the country.
The immigration lawyer Willy Allen warned on July 14 that Cubans with I-220A should not accept voluntary departure if they are not detained: “Cuban with I-220A, if you are not detained and want to fight, do not accept voluntary departure.”
The phenomenon of self-deportation intensified in 2026 alongside formal deportations. The first repatriation flight of the year arrived in Cuba on February 9 with 170 migrants, and by May, the total number of Cubans returned to the island exceeded 612, according to press reports.
The risks of returning are not limited to the immigration consequences in the U.S. A Cuban with an I-220A deported in February reported torture at Villa Marista, the headquarters of State Security in Havana, where he claimed to have been interrogated for eight days upon his arrival on the island.
For those still assessing their situation, Allen stated on July 20 that a possible solution to the I-220A immigration limbo could arrive in October or November 2026, although he clarified that this is not an officially confirmed decision.
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