Ottawa bans Yosniel Alginis Villalón López from entering the country despite his marriage to a Canadian woman.
14ymedio, Havana, 25 July 2025 — The future of former Cuban judge of the Havana Provincial Court, Yosniel Alginis Villalón López, is in limbo. Canada denied him legal entry on July 2 and a day later handed him over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He is being held at the detention center in Buffalo, New York, where he awaits his deportation hearing in late August. If he is returned to the island, he could be charged with treason for refusing to condemn the 11J protesters.
Villalón took office as a judge just a month before the outbreak of the Island-wide protests that shook the Cuban streets on 11 July 2021. “It represents a great honor for me, an award I receive in return for so many years of study, dedication, and sacrifice,” he told the official outlet Tribuna at the time. “It represents growth in my profession with the great responsibility of administering justice from the bench.”
Upon reaching the US border, he applied for asylum and settled in Miami, Florida.
Threats from the regime and harassment from State Security, which reminded him of his refusal to join the Cuban Communist Party, led Villalón to go into exile in early 2022. Upon reaching the US border, he applied for asylum and settled in Miami, Florida. The 34-year-old Cuban received a work permit, performing various activities in the mornings and cleaning a courthouse at night.
In October 2024, he met Canadian Stéphanie Penta through social media. After several months, the woman traveled to Miami to meet him. The relationship became more formal when Villalón met his partner’s daughters and in May, they decided to get married.
According to Villalón López, who spoke to the Montreal Gazette , an immigration lawyer informed them that Villalón qualified under the family exception to the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), so he decided to move. On July 2, he headed to the Lacolle crossing in Quebec, one of Canada’s busiest land borders. However, what he thought would be the start of a new life ended in a nightmare.
Immigration experts told the Canadian newspaper that the Cuban’s case is part of “a growing wave of failed crossings” at the Canada-U.S. land border. This is because the STCA requires an individual to apply for asylum in the first safe country they reach—in this case, the United States.
Villalón presented the Canada Border Services Agency agent with a marriage certificate, a criminal background check, and joint bank statements, among other documents. The interview focused on his relationship with Stéphanie, his personal history and asylum claim in the United States, and whether their marriage was genuine.
“He said Stéphanie and I got married so I could immigrate to Canada.”
Villalón showed the agent a photo of himself with Stéphanie and their daughters in New York, but the officer felt it wasn’t enough. “He said Stéphanie and I got married so I could immigrate to Canada.”
Ottawa immigration lawyer Heather Neufeld noted that it is common for border officials to say an individual doesn’t have the correct visa when they don’t believe the marriage is real.
The Canadian Immigration Minister’s office defended the official interpretation of the STCA in handling asylum applications. While the agreement allows for family-based exceptions, “the burden of proof rests with the asylum seeker.”
The lawyer has tried to reach an agreement with the Canadian authorities.
The case of the former Cuban judge is being defended by attorney Hana Marku, who acknowledged that the appeal could take more than a year. She has therefore attempted to reach an agreement with Canadian authorities so that her client can re-enter Canada and present his case again.
The problem is that ICE must release him first, and starting only this month it has tightened its rules: “Immigrants should be released on bond before their hearings only in exceptional circumstances.”
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