Miami media reports that at least six migrant women from the island are on their way to San Diego, California.
14ymedio, Madrid, 18 March 2025 — The number of Cuban migrants detained in the United States with Form I-220A* has increased in recent days. The most recent case, that of Beatriz Monteagudo, came to light thanks to a phone call she made from the Broward detention center in Florida, broadcast on Telemundo 51.
“I’m afraid they’ll transfer me to another state because they’re taking them to Louisiana, to Texas. And that really scares me, that they’ll transfer me to another state,” said Beatriz Monteagudo.
The Miami-based channel also spoke with a friend of the detainee, Johan Ariel, who said that last Monday, before Monteagudo left for her appointment at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), he wished her luck and asked her to report back when she returned, which didn’t happen.
“The moment she called me, she burst into tears. She said, ’Johan, I’m here. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know why they detained me. There are 18 of us,’” the young man said, reporting their conversation. Having entered the US with a CBP One appointment he also fears for his fate.
Monteagudo’s case joins that of Laura de la Caridad González Sánchez, who was also detained while attending her immigration control appointment on March 10 at the same center in Miramar, South Florida. The 26-year-old nursing student had arrived in the US in September 2022 and was living—with her provisional release permit, known as I-220A, after requesting asylum—awaiting her trial, scheduled for December 25, 2025.
González was in Arizona this weekend before being transferred to California, her mother told Noticias 23. “I’m broken, I’m devastated. She’s my only daughter,” Celia Sánchez said. “There’s no explanation. They told her there that it was a group that had been chosen at random.”
“There is no explanation whatsoever. They told her there that it was a group that had been chosen at random.”
In these cases, families are being forthcoming in expressing their fears. Even Beatriz Monteagudo’s mother, who remains in Cuba, has done so. “We know practically nothing about our daughter. A girl who had done all her work. She had appeared in court. She had a work permit. She hasn’t committed any crimes. What a situation for young people who leave this country and cross borders and then are detained on top of that!” she lamented. “So, where do we seek freedom?” she told Telemundo.
Lisvani Sánchez is the husband of Denice Reyes, one of the cases that has sparked the most theories among exiles. Both arrived in the US in January 2022 and, like the others, are asylum seekers authorized to reside in the country with an I-220A. Last week, they also attended their appointment in Miramar and were detained, but their fates have been very different.
“At 4:00 p.m., they came and gave me back my papers, and they told me I had to leave, that my wife had to stay in custody. I asked them why, and they told me it was an order from above,” Sánchez said. His wife was taken to the Broward Detention Center, while he left with a GPS tracking device.
Yadira Cantallops Hernández, a US-born mother of a young child whose trial date is scheduled for April, is the latest of the Cubans whose identity has come to light, although there are at least two more, according to journalist Daniel Benítez, who has stated that the migrants are together and have San Diego as their final destination, with no further details available about what awaits them there.
The Miami press has sought opinions from specialized lawyers in recent days, given the confusion generated among Cubans remaining in the US with I-220A documents and awaiting a court decision. This group of migrants, who initially said they felt secure in their status amid the Trump administration’s harsh policies, has been shocked by the growing news of detentions of people in their situation.
Attorney Wilfredo Allen, in statements to the press, has urged migrants not to fail to attend their ICE appointments for fear of reprisals, as they could make things worse. “I believe that when they make these arrests, they are sending a message of panic and fear. A large portion of people are released immediately. In some cases, people who had I-220As and had no court date have been given a court date,” he said a few days before it was learned that this group of Cuban women were on their way to California.
Attorney Wilfredo Allen has asked migrants in statements to the press not to fail to attend their appointments with ICE for fear of retaliation, as this could make things worse.
In an interview with CiberCuba, Allen also urged Cuban-American Congressmen María Elvira Salazar, Carlos Giménez, and Mario Díaz-Balart to intervene in this case. “It’s in their hands,” said the expert, who believes there is an administrative solution dependent on political will. “The Secretary of Homeland Security has the power to determine that I-220A is a legal entry for Cuban Adjustment, and it’s based on previously existing laws and memoranda regarding the entry of Cubans,” he maintained. Salazar, in particular, has repeatedly pledged to work for migrants in this situation.
Rosaly Chaviano, a specialist consulted by Telemundo, expressed her inability to understand what is happening. “We really don’t know, because ICE hasn’t officially said so, why they are detaining these people, but what we are seeing are these detentions based on violations of the conditions of I-220A,” she comments, referring to alleged breaches of the law or the conduct they are instructed to follow, although this does not appear to be the case with this group. “Definitely, if these people have no violations, that could be an argument to tell ICE that they are willing to comply with whatever they ask, whether it be bail or additional conditions,” Chaviano explained.
“What concerns us is that they will extend this interpretation of expedited deportations to those who are not currently in deportation court. Those who are I-220A without a court,” the lawyer added, urging them to be prepared for “any circumstance.”
The recording, which the Republican plans to share on social media, invites migrants to use CBP Home
This Tuesday, it was revealed that Trump took his immigration policies a step further by recording a video in which he asks undocumented immigrants to “self-deport” before authorities arrest them, according to the news site Axios , which obtained the footage. The recording, which the Republican plans to share on social media, invites migrants to use CBP Home, a government-provided app through which they can inform the administration that they are leaving the country.
“My Administration is launching the CBP Home app to provide individuals who are in our country illegally an easy way to leave now and voluntarily self-deport,” Trump explains. “If they do so, they may have the opportunity to return legally at some point in the future.” But, “if they do not take advantage of this opportunity, they will be found, deported, and never again be admitted to the United States—never, ever, ever again,” the president warns.
*See also: Cuban Adjustment Act
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