The Cuban Erlan Rafael Arias has been released after nearly a year detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and he has also regained his permanent residency, which he had held for over ten years, reported journalist Javier Díaz on Facebook.
Arias was arrested in October 2025 upon arriving at Miami International Airport after a trip to Cuba to visit his sick grandmother. The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) held him during the immigration inspection and handed him over to ICE a few hours later.
The reason for the arrest dated back to events that occurred nearly a decade earlier: in 2015, Arias had been arrested in Hialeah for petty theft in a store, and in 2016 he faced a charge of conspiracy to steal mailboxes, for which he served over a year of probation.
El caso de Arias refleja la complejidad de los procesos migratorios que enfrentan miles de cubanos en EE.UU. Sigue de cerca estos y otros casos en nuestra sección de
In 2017, the charge of petty theft was dismissed and Arias was declared innocent, according to the attorney who handled his case. However, those records remained active in the immigration databases, which was enough for the authorities to detain him upon re-entering the country.
His wife, Natalie Castañeda, stated at the time that Arias had traveled to Cuba on two previous occasions without any issues, and that no one warned them that a third trip could have consequences. "He has a document stating that when his case was dismissed, it said that USCIS would not interfere. They never told him he couldn't travel," she claimed.
After his arrest, Arias was transferred to the detention center known as "Alligator Alcatraz," where he remained while his family processed a immigration pardon using form I-601.
Other Cuban migrants detained by ICE have been able to gain their freedom, although not all with the same outcome. Yaíma de las Mercedes Suárez, a mother of five, was held for six months after being arrested upon her return from Cuba in February, and was released in August with a judge's pardon.
Marlon Cervelo Trujillo was released in September after eight months in ICE custody through a habeas corpus petition, although he has a pending deportation order.
These cases are part of a widespread tightening of immigration policy that caused a 463 % increase in the detention of Cubans between October 2025 and April 2026.
Immigration lawyer Wilfredo "Willy" Allen publicly warned about the risks of these trips: "Once you have committed a criminal offense in the United States, you are subject to deportation. If you leave the country, you are exposing yourself to detention."
Her recommendation for any permanent resident with a record —including minor or dismissed offenses— is to wait until they obtain U.S. citizenship before traveling abroad.
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