Eduardo Ortiz, a 35-year-old Cuban who entered the United States through a CBP One appointment and received a two-year parole, has been detained by ICE in Florida for 17 months, while his family awaits the results of an appeal and seeks to secure his release.
Ortiz remains detained at the Broward Transitional Center (BTC) in Pompano Beach, a private center operated by GEO Group under contract with immigration authorities. As he told Univision 23, he was arrested while traveling to his job in construction in the Florida Keys.
"I was going to work, I was in the truck with a friend of mine. He was driving and I was sleeping next to him," he recounted during a video call from the center.
His partner claims that Ortiz did not commit any offense during the time he was free and that they are currently trying to reverse his situation through legal means.
"We are currently in the process of appealing. We are waiting for that process. We have a habeas corpus filed," he explained.
The immigration attorney José Guerrero, who does not represent the Cuban but analyzed his case for Univision, explained that individuals who entered through CBP One may be classified as "foreigners in the process of arrival," a designation that prevents them from applying for bail before an immigration judge.
"If they have not yet obtained their residency, which is a defined immigration status, they could be arrested and, unfortunately, they are considered what is referred to as an arriving foreign national in the United States, and they are not granted bail," he pointed out.
Guerrero added that this situation also limits the options available in immigration court. "When he is in a court process, what he can defend is asylum, because the judge does not have jurisdiction over that residency application," he explained.
Ortiz has spent 35 years in the detention center and claims that the support among the migrants themselves has helped him endure the months of confinement.
"Cubans here support each other a lot. Colombians, we support each other a lot, we help one another a great deal, and we give each other a lot of strength," he said.
During the interview, he also revealed that he has refused to sign a voluntary deportation to Africa or any other third country.
ICE has sent Cubans to third countries when their direct deportation to Cuba does not take place. Among those destinations have been African nations such as South Sudan, Liberia, Equatorial Guinea, and the Central African Republic, where two Cuban citizens were deported at the beginning of September.
The administration of Donald Trump eliminated the CBP One appointment system on January 20, 2025. Subsequently, authorities began to revoke temporary stay permits granted to individuals who had entered through various immigration programs. In April 2026, Cubans who had entered with CBP One appointments received notifications of the revocation of their paroles.
The case of Ortiz also occurs after, in August, a federal judge in Florida ordered the release of another Cuban detained by ICE who had entered via CBP One, after concluding that his detention violated due process guarantees.
Ortiz, meanwhile, asserts that he is not willing to accept a voluntary departure to a third country and that his family is the reason he continues to fight to stay in the United States.
"I love her, I love my mom and my sister; that is my reason for being," he expressed.
"We are fleeing from a dictatorship, from repression, from everything," the Cuban stated.
El caso de Eduardo Ortiz refleja la complejidad del sistema migratorio estadounidense. Sigue de cerca las últimas novedades sobre ICE, parole, CBP One y deportaciones en nuestra sección de
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