Caridad, mother of Leonardo Sánchez Fernández, a 49-year-old Cuban originally from San Miguel del Padrón, spoke by phone with CiberCuba to report on her son's situation, who was deported on Thursday by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and ended up detained in Equatorial Guinea without documents, without legal assistance, and in a fragile health condition.
Leonardo, a resident of Lehigh Acres in Lee County, Florida, was part of the first group of deportees sent to Liberia under the agreement signed between Washington and Monrovia in September 2025.
Upon arrival, those who refused to disembark were promised they would be returned to the United States, but the plane made a stop in Equatorial Guinea, where they were forced to get off. Leonardo and four other individuals were part of that group.
The situation of Leonardo is particularly serious due to his medical history: he underwent stomach surgery and has a skin graft in that area.
According to his mother, when he got off the plane, the guards pushed him, he fell to the ground, and his condition worsened.
He was taken from the hotel where he is being held along with three other Cubans to be transferred to a hospital, where he is currently admitted and receiving IV fluids.
"He has his organs out of place due to a recent surgery, and now it has left him in very bad condition," she commented with concern.
Caridad explained that her son arrived in the United States in 2010 and had valid legal residency until 2030, but offenses about which the family did not provide details may have cost him both his residency and Social Security. He was arrested by ICE six months ago.
“He paid everything he owed. He owes nothing to justice,” the mother exclaimed.
Leonardo is in a hotel without any documents, without a passport, and without any kind of consular support. He was only taken from the location to go to the hospital.
His mother pointed out that the guards of the alleged hotel warn the deportees that they will shoot anyone who attempts to approach the fence of the facility.
Caridad summarized her anguish with a question that has no answer: “How can they send people there who are not killers and have not harmed anyone? Why?”
Another Cuban from the same group, Carlos Rodríguez López, described the arrival in Equatorial Guinea in a video call to his wife: "About 50 police officers were waiting for us, and they didn't say anything, they just took us all down, they made us work hard, and there were people with masks, everyone was masked, and they put us in a van and brought us to a hotel."
"We are here kidnapped and we don't know anything, whom we should turn to, whom we should see, what is happening to us, because we are in a place from which we cannot leave, we cannot leave this hotel," he explained in the conversation where he also referred to Leonardo's health situation.
Deportations to Third Countries: The Agony of Migrants
The case falls within the Trump administration's policy of deporting migrants to third countries with which they have no connection.
The administration signed an agreement under which Liberia agreed to accept up to 1,200 foreigners within a period of 12 months.
The Liberian Minister of Justice, Natu Oswald Tweh, explained at a press conference that the government reviewed the list of migrants prior to their arrival and that most had committed immigration-related infractions or crimes.
Tweh added that the deported individuals could seek asylum in Liberia or leave whenever they wish.
The U.S. also signed an agreement with Equatorial Guinea on October 2, 2025, accompanied by a payment of 7.5 million dollars from the Department of State.
Between November 2025 and July 2026, at least 53 people from 10 different countries were sent to Malabo on three ICE flights.
In February 2026, a federal judge in Massachusetts declared this policy of deportations to third countries illegal, although the ruling was temporarily suspended.
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