The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested a Cuban national over the weekend who had been convicted of second-degree murder in Florida, reported the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) this Monday.
The Cuban is among 15 immigrants with significant criminal backgrounds highlighted by the DHS in a statement released on September 28, which includes individuals convicted of offenses such as murder, manslaughter, sexual assault against minors, child abuse, and drug trafficking.
The federal agency identified the Cuban as Rubén Ayala-Laies and stated that he was convicted of second-degree murder in Union County, Florida.
The DHS did not specify in its statement when the murder conviction occurred, the circumstances of the crime, or when the Cuban regained his freedom before coming under immigration custody.
However, court records show that a man identified as Rubén Ayala-Laies was sentenced on July 29, 1983 to 65 years in prison in Florida.
The case resurfaced decades later before the Fourth District Court of Appeals in Florida, which examined in 2009 a petition filed by Ayala-Laies to correct aspects of that ruling.
The court ruling did not overturn the 65-year sentence. The controversy centered, among other issues, on the period during which the sentencing court retained jurisdiction over his conviction, a decision that could affect the timing of when he could access parole. The appeals court upheld the rejection of two of his arguments, reversed the decision regarding the third, and remanded the case for further proceedings.
A discrepancy in the records
However, there is a difference between the information released by the DHS this Monday and the court file found.
The DHS notes that Ayala-Laies was convicted of second-degree murder in Union County. The 65-year sentence process reviewed in 2009, on the other hand, originates from the 17th Judicial Circuit of Broward County, under the case file 83-1435 CF10A.
The consulted court documents confirm the 65-year sentence, but the 2009 appeal ruling does not specify the crime that led to that penalty. Therefore, it is not possible to determine from the available documents whether this refers to the same murder conviction now mentioned by the DHS, another criminal case against Ayala-Laies, or a discrepancy in the information released by the federal agency.
DHS highlights arrests of immigrants with serious criminal records
The Cuban was included by the DHS in a list of foreigners arrested by ICE over the weekend who had previously been convicted of serious crimes in the United States.
Among the cases disclosed are also citizens from Laos, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Micronesia, and Nigeria, with convictions for murder, homicide, sexual offenses against minors, child abuse, possession and distribution of drugs, and other crimes.
The DHS presented the arrests as part of the immigration operations of the Donald Trump administration and stated that ICE continues to identify and detain undocumented immigrants with criminal records.
In the case of the Cuban citizen, the statement did not specify where he was arrested this weekend, how long he had been at liberty, when he became subject to a migration process, or whether there is currently a final deportation order to Cuba.
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