Agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were recorded this weekend conducting operations in Little Havana, the neighborhood with the highest concentration of Cuban and Latin American immigrants in Miami, according to videos and posts that quickly spread on social media within the community.
A post by journalist Javier Díaz on Facebook confirmed an ICE raid this Saturday at the address 146 NW 9th Ave, in Little Havana.
"It is confirmed that ICE will conduct a raid this Saturday in Little Havana, Miami. Agents were recorded at this address: 146 NW 9th Ave. It is still unknown whether any individuals were arrested," wrote Díaz.
On Friday, photos and videos of agents interrogating individuals about their immigration status at the corner of SW 2nd Street and 9th Avenue also circulated widely.
The recordings show agents moving in unmarked vehicles and with their faces covered. According to the reports accompanying the material, at least one of the individuals interrogated had legal status in the country.
Univision reported also this alleged raid that the immigrant community reported in Little Havana and other areas of Miami-Dade over the weekend, based on photos and videos captured by the residents themselves.
In one of those operations, two Nicaraguan citizens were arrested, identified by their relatives as José Jartin, 35 years old, and Benito Amaya, 42. Their loved ones claim that both were in the process of applying for asylum at the time of their detention.
Neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have officially confirmed a coordinated operation in Little Havana.
The DHS maintains that its agents operate under reasonable suspicion in accordance with the Fourth Amendment and denies that they engage in racial profiling.
The operations over the weekend are part of a sustained escalation in ICE activity in South Florida throughout 2026.
The ICE office in Miami has led immigration arrests nationwide, with an average of 120 daily detentions and more than 41,000 arrests between January 2025 and April 2026. Just last July, ICE processed nearly 6,000 individuals in detention centers in the Miami area.
The Cuban community has not been immune to this pressure. Arrests of Cubans by ICE increased by 463% between late 2024 and early 2026, and Florida's immigration courts issued more than 4,000 deportation orders against Cubans between October 2025 and June of this year.
The economic impact of these operations has also been documented: academic studies estimate consumption losses between 3.1 billion and 14 billion dollars and the disappearance of 668,000 jobs in 86 metropolitan areas of the country, according to an analysis by Brookings.
Filed under: