A video showing the arrest of a Cuban identified as Daisel Morales Hernández —who was working as an Uber driver at the time of the arrest— went viral on Facebook and generated a wave of mixed reactions within the Cuban community abroad.
The arrest reportedly took place in Comal County, Texas, as detailed in the police arrest record recorded this Friday, October 30th.
The 34-year-old Cuban remains in the county jail, held by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The clip of the arrest was published by journalist Daniel Benítez. In the post, the reporter stated that Morales entered the United States with humanitarian parole and had a pending residency application under the Cuban Adjustment Act.
He was arrested while working as a driver for the Uber platform.
The video, almost three minutes long, shows a woman confronting the agents in English without receiving any response. “Why are you arresting this man? What has he done?” she asks repeatedly.
At another moment, she challenges them: "You are not police, you are ICE agents. Have you read them their rights? Is this legal?" When the agents order her to step back and threaten her with spray, the woman replies, "Maybe you are being so aggressive because you know that what you are doing is wrong."
The recording sparked thousands of comments. Several users questioned the identity of the agents, pointing out that the vests said "POLICE" and not "ICE."
Others speculated about the circumstances of the arrest: “He was identified by the license plate. Surely someone tipped them off,” wrote one commentator. Another noted, “That was not a random stop. They went straight for him.”
Among those who defended the detainee, one user wrote: "Daisel is a good, hardworking young man, very kind, from a family of values and principles. All he has done is work here and help those around him. What they are doing is an abuse, and this is a clear example that they are not only arresting people with a criminal record."
Another comment praised the woman who filmed: "The lady in the video has more integrity than many journalists who do not publish unnecessary arrests."
The case is not isolated. In October 2026, at least two other cases of Cuban Uber drivers detained by ICE were documented under similar circumstances, including Frank Yanuyr Arzuaga-Castellón, who was arrested in Texas while transporting a passenger from an airport to a military base.
A recurring legal problem for Cubans in this situation is that ICE classifies them as "arriving aliens," a category that can prevent an immigration judge from having jurisdiction to grant them bail, complicating their defense even when they have pending applications for status adjustment.
The distinction between a formal migratory parole and an I-220A form is crucial: this document alone does not establish eligibility under the Cuban Adjustment Act nor does it equate to a migratory parole.
The arrests of Cubans by ICE have skyrocketed by 463% since October 2024, increasing from fewer than 200 per month to over 1,000 monthly by the end of 2025. In August 2026, the agency recorded over 50,000 arrests, and only 31% of the more than 500,000 individuals arrested by that date had prior criminal convictions.
Witnesses have a constitutional right to record ICE arrests in public spaces under the First Amendment, as long as they do not physically interfere with the agents.
The woman who filmed Morales' arrest exercised that right, despite the agents' threats. Among the comments, one summed up the sentiment of many: "God protect all Cubans and migrants worldwide."
El caso de Daisel Morales refleja la incertidumbre que enfrentan miles de cubanos con parole en EE.UU. Sigue de cerca todos los desarrollos en nuestra sección de
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