Madrid/Cuban Emilio Nieves-Matanzas, who was deported to Cuba last May after spending five months in US detention centers, will receive special permission from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to legally return to Florida.
Emilio Nieves-Matanzas had been residing in the United States with an I-220A document – also known as “parole” – since 2022. On November 23, 2025, he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during a traffic stop and was transferred to the Louisiana detention center. The immigration judge had denied his asylum case, but the defense filed an appeal within the legal period, in addition to a habeas corpus.
On May 21, Nieves-Matanzas was deported to Cuba, despite the fact that his family and his defense had denounced that his case was still pending resolution and that therefore the deportation was illegal. His lawyer, Rafael Verde, declared to Telemundo that the way Nieves-Matanzas was removed from the country was unconstitutional.
“The United States does not have the power to deport a person to their country because they are waiting for a decision from a higher court,” said Verde, who added that the decision “is against all the protections that the US Government offers to migrants.”
“The United States does not have the power to deport a person to their country because they are waiting for a decision from a higher court”
The lawyer stressed that it is not normal for a deported person to return, but that Nieves-Matanzas’ case is special. “We pushed to the level where they themselves wanted to rectify the mistake,” Verde said. DHS will grant the parole to Nieves-Matanzas and, once in Florida, you will continue processing your legal residency.
The case raises hopes among other Cubans deported from the United States whose legal processes were still active. On May 21, along with Nieves-Matanzas, Cuban Javier Batista was also deported, who had been detained on June 6, 2025 in an immigration court in Orlando.
His daughter, Mary Batista, denounced in statements to Telemundo that the authorities never informed him about his father’s successive transfers between detention centers and that they only informed him that he was no longer in the country. The defense had filed both an appeal and a request for habeas corpusstill pending resolution, circumstances similar to those reported in the Nieves-Matanzas case.
Mary Batista did not know where her father was until he called her from Cuba. According to him, his father told him that they had sent him there “to die” due to his advanced age and health problems, including diabetes.
“Essentially what the government did was: it bypassed the judge. Now we are entering into a process to see if we can return our client from Cuba.”
Lawyer Leslie Cabrera declared to Telemundo that the deportation had been illegal: “Essentially what the government did was: it went over the head of the judge. Now we are entering into a process to see if we can return our client from Cuba.”
Another Cuban deported last May in similar conditions was Alejandro Ramírez Díaz. The migrant remained in Cuba for 41 days, during which time his lawyer, Gladys Carredeguas, presented legal appeals in which she exposed “serious flaws” in the process. Even though got his return to the USA with parolethe man now remains in ICE custody.
So far this year, the US has deported 612 people to Cubamany of them with ongoing processes, as in the cases mentioned.
US immigration policy towards Cubans has tightened in recent years, along with an increase in detentions in immigration courts and greater pressure on people with I-220A forms and other pending cases.
So far this year, the United States has deported 612 people to Cuba, many of them with ongoing processes, as in the cases mentioned.
Groups such as Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have warned of the increasing use of procedures expedited removalwhich allow accelerated expulsions; as well as transfers to third countries, which increases the legal uncertainty of migrants with open processes.
According to a report from Human Rights WatchBetween January 2025 and March 2026, the United States deported 4,353 Cubans to Mexico. Of them, 26% had no criminal record and 16% had pending cases without conviction.
