The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) explained the reasons behind the detention of the renowned Cuban percussionist Degnis Nelson Bofill Miranda, arrested on August 19 at Miami International Airport while returning from New York.
According to a statement from ICE cited by CBS News Miami, Bofill, 39 years old, "legally entered the United States on April 15, 2023, but did not comply with the terms of his admission and is now violating immigration law."
The agency classified him as an "illegal immigrant from Cuba" and stated that he "will receive due process." It also affirmed that it will continue to enforce the immigration priorities of the Donald Trump administration, including the detention and deportation of immigrants who are in the country illegally.
ICE's explanation contrasts with that of Mara Delgado, the musician's wife, who claims that Bofill entered legally with a visa and has a pending asylum application that has not yet reached the initial interview stage.
"He landed at Miami airport. He was coming from New York and they were waiting for him there," Delgado told CBS News Miami.
Bofill was returning from participating in the Latin Alternative Music Conference and a performance at the Pocket Jazz Club in Midtown Manhattan when he was detained.
After spending several days at the ICE Control and Deportation Operations facilities in Miramar, he was transferred to the Krome North Processing Center in Miami-Dade, where he remains detained.
His wife described the detention conditions as "terrible and designed to break the spirit of the detainees" and fears that the process will end with the musician's deportation.
"I'm worried that he will be deported because I don't know when I'll be able to see him again," she confessed. The couple met in Cuba and got married in 2023, the same year Bofill arrived in the United States.
A Latin Grammy-winning musician
Bofill is one of the most recognized Cuban percussionists of his generation. He won the Latin Grammy 2022 for Best Folk Album for his participation in Ancestros Sinfónico, by Síntesis, X Alfonso, and Eme Alfonso.
Founder of the Afro-Cuban jazz group Golpes Libres, he has worked with musicians such as Roberto Fonseca and Arturo O'Farrill, has participated in over 28 albums, and since January 2025, he has been a member of the voting body of the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences.
His career began far from the grand stages. Born in Manzanillo in 1987, he studied at the José María Ochoa Conservatory in Holguín and has shared that for years he lacked the resources to buy his own instruments.
"I woke up every day at 6 in the morning for three years to be able to reserve the only xylophone in the school," she recalled in a 2024 interview.
Upon his arrest, Delgado launched a campaign on GoFundMe to cover his legal defense costs. The initiative, with a goal of $60,000, had raised over $51,700 contributed by more than 600 people as of Tuesday.
The arrest of Bofill occurred just four days after the arrest of the Cuban pianist Andy García Palacios, of the García Brothers from Miami, at Los Angeles International Airport.
The cases occur amidst an increase in ICE arrests at U.S. airports, as part of the tightening of immigration policy by the Trump administration.
While his immigration situation is being resolved, Delgado's priority is to ensure that her husband is released from Krome.
"My husband is one of the best Cuban musicians of his generation. I can't imagine a community that wouldn't want him to be a part of it," she stated.
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