Yaima de las Mercedes Suárez, a Cuban mother of five and a permanent resident of the United States, was released on Thursday after a judge granted her a pardon that ended six months of detention under the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to a report from Univision 23.
Yaima, 34 years old, was on the verge of being deported to a third country due to a criminal record from over a decade ago.
After leaving prison, he spoke with journalist Javier Díaz about his experience in the facility: "Horrible, horrible. There are good things, because I made very good friends, but being without your children, being without your family, is horrible."
The woman was arrested on February 8 at Miami Airport upon returning from Cuba along with her three-year-old daughter. The trip had a family purpose: for the grandmother to meet the girl and to bring flowers to her father's grave, who had passed away without her being able to say goodbye.
The legal trigger was a criminal record from 2013: when she was 21 years old and pregnant, she was charged with fuel theft and conspiracy along with four others in Manatee County, Florida. According to her family, she pleaded guilty to avoid giving birth in prison. That record was activated upon re-entering the country.
Yaima's lawyer explained that the legal mechanism that caught her was not arbitrary: "Immigration reviews her history and realizes that she had this offense that made her inadmissible to the United States, and they placed her in this deportation process."
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, each reentry to the country counts as a new admission request, which can reactivate criminal records that may not have had consequences for years, even if the residency card has been renewed.
While she was detained by ICE, her husband Yankiel Suárez took charge of their five minor children, three of whom have autism.
During this time, the defense worked on several fronts over the six-month detention: it requested bail, arguing that Yaima was not subject to mandatory detention. A key limitation was that she had not accumulated the 15 years of residence necessary to apply for cancellation of removal.
Finally, the judge granted him a pardon that opened the door to his release, and his residency was not revoked.
The journalist Javier Díaz warned in another video all emigrants who are not yet American citizens: "If you have a criminal record, it is important, if you are still a permanent resident, contact a lawyer."
Detentions of Cubans by ICE increased by 463% between October 2024 and January 2026, while approvals for permanent residency for Cubans dropped by 99.8% during the same period.
Cuba is also on the list of countries considered non-cooperative by ICE since December 2024, which increases scrutiny on those returning from the Island.
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