The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) included a Cuban citizen among the five most serious cases of undocumented immigrants detained in Iowa, in an official statement released on Wednesday.
It concerns Sidney Pino-Becquer, who was arrested by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on October 1 in that Midwestern state of the United States.
According to the DHS, Pino-Becquer's criminal record includes convictions for endangering a minor through unintentional serious injury and for endangering a minor through torture or cruelty, as well as an arrest for physical assault.
The Cuban entered the United States illegally through Arizona in October 2021 and was detained at that time by the Border Patrol.
The DHS indicates that the Biden administration released him within the United States after that initial detention, only to be arrested years later in Iowa with that criminal record.
The Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, stated that "in the great state of Iowa, the brave patriots of ICE have arrested pedophiles, child abusers, violent offenders, and drunk drivers," and added that irregular immigrants "do not have the right to be in the United States."
"Under President Trump, there will be no sanctuary for illegal foreigners. If you are in this country illegally, we will find you, arrest you, and expel you from our nation," Mullin warned in a recent statement.
Alongside Pino-Becquer, the statement presents four other cases: Amilcar Perz-Morfin, a Mexican convicted of sexual exploitation of a minor; Axel Sanchez Torres, also Mexican, with convictions for domestic violence, serious substance control offenses, and driving under the influence; Cristian Sneider Garcia-Salas, a Colombian with convictions for assault and public intoxication; and Jefri Cap Villagran, a Guatemalan with multiple convictions and arrests who had already been deported in September 2012.
The arrest of the Cuban is part of a large-scale immigration crackdown in Iowa, where ICE detained at least 1,779 people during the first year of Trump's second term, a rise of 272% compared to the same period in 2024, according to the Deportation Data Project.
In March 2025, the state signed a collaboration agreement with ICE that allows state agents to participate in joint immigration operations, which has intensified arrests in the region.
The case of Pino-Becquer adds to a long list of Cubans who have appeared in the "Worst of the Worst" campaign throughout 2026. Among them are Ramón Acosta-Díaz, convicted of homicide in Florida, and Ángel Ramírez-Castillo, with convictions for attempted murder in Miami, both included in DHS statements at the beginning of October.
Nationally, the arrests of Cubans by ICE surged by 463% between October 2024 and January 2026, according to an analysis by the Cato Institute, a trend that reflects the sustained tightening of immigration policy under the Trump administration.
The "Worst of the Worst" campaign, launched in December 2025, had over 40,000 registered profiles by the end of September 2026, following the addition of 5,000 new cases that month.
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