The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported a Cuban citizen identified as Andy Gomez-Niebla, who was convicted in Michigan for theft and conspiracy to interfere with commerce, according to an official statement from the Department of Homeland Security released this Friday.
Gomez-Niebla was expelled from the country on August 21. An immigration judge from the Department of Justice had issued his final deportation order on June 8, 2026. ICE notes that he entered the United States illegally on a date and at a location that are unknown.
The crime for which he was convicted—conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery—is defined in the Hobbs Act (18 U.S.C. § 1951), a federal statute that penalizes robbery or conspiracy to commit it when it affects interstate commerce, with penalties of up to 20 years of federal imprisonment.
The statement from the Department of Homeland Security also details the deportation of other foreigners with serious criminal records during the same week: an Ecuadorian convicted of second-degree murder and kidnapping, a Bolivian with two charges of sexual assault with force, a Honduran convicted of sexual assault against a 17-year-old minor, and a Mexican with convictions for arson, among other offenses.
The Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, defended the operations with a direct message: “Every day, the brave men and women of ICE put themselves at risk to arrest and remove illegal aliens from our communities.”
Last week, ICE deported murderers, rapists, and arsonists. Under President Trump's leadership, we will always put the safety of the American people first. If you are here illegally, we will find you, arrest you, and deport you.
The case of Gomez-Niebla adds to a sustained trend of the expulsion of Cubans with criminal records since the Trump administration intensified its immigration policy.
The Cuban regime, which had historically refused to accept return flights, began to accept deportees with criminal records starting in February 2026.
In the first six months of the year, the United States deported 740 Cubans on 25 flights. As of August 21, the total number of Cubans returned to the island from various countries reached 882 people in 31 operations, according to data from the Cuban Ministry of the Interior.
ICE has deported other Cubans with extensive criminal records in recent weeks, including those convicted of fraud, vehicle theft, and attempted homicide, as part of a communication strategy by the administration to publicly justify its deportation operations.
In June 2026, immigration courts issued 1,642 deportation orders against Cubans, while in Florida, between October 2025 and that same month, more than 4,000 orders were accumulated, according to data from the TRAC analysis center at Syracuse University.
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