The Cuban activist Oscar Casanella issued a significant political warning in an interview with Tania Costa, on CiberCuba, just days before his in-person hearing before an Immigration judge in Miami, which has been postponed to January 2027. In his view, if the immigration authorities deny him asylum and issue a deportation order, they would be indirectly supporting the rhetoric of the Cuban political police.
Casanella was summoned to appear this Friday, August 28, before an Immigration judge in Miami, within his removal proceedings that took an unexpected turn on August 3, when a hearing was scheduled in the immigration system more than a year after his final asylum hearing, held in June 2025 without a verdict. Shortly after the interview with Tania Costa, his defense office called to inform him of the postponement to January 13, 2027, when an individual trial is expected to take place.
"In messages from the political police, they often say: 'Withdraw from activism, do not fight against us because we will destroy you and no one will help you. You will gain nothing. You are abandoned, and no one cares about you,'" the activist quoted, then drawing a direct connection to his migration situation.
"Imagine if I'm denied asylum and given a deportation order. These immigration authorities would also, unfortunately, be indirectly supporting the narrative of the Cuban political police, disincentivizing activists," he warned.
For Casanella, what is at stake is not limited to his personal case but has a collective dimension that directly affects those who remain in Cuba.
"My case transcends my individual situation because what message would be sent to the activists inside Cuba who are putting themselves at risk and who might think, 'Perhaps tomorrow I will need help, a place to take refuge.' If I see that this is happening to this activist, what will happen to me?" he pointed out.
Casanella, persecuted in Cuba and unprotected in the United States since his arrival in January 2022 with an I-220A document that does not grant him legal status, expressed confidence in the judge handling his case, although with one condition.
"I want to say that my judge, I believe she is a good professional. At least considering the volume of evidence I had, my trial was not brief. She gave me many hours in court. That is a good thing. She gave me from eight-thirty to three-thirty," he said, before adding: "I hope that justice is served and that a mandate, an order, or a directive, let's say, does not blindly fulfill an administration's wishes."
The paradox surrounding his case is particularly painful. Casanella regrets that the repressors bypass the rules and obtain visas, parole, and legal residency in the United States while he remains in an unresolved immigration limbo.
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