Cuban man held over a year by ICE, misses newborn granddaughter's birth, fights deportation
Sep 27, 2026·Location: West Palm Beach, FL
Country of origin: Cuba

Antonio Frometa Ascón, a 63-year-old Cuban immigrant who came to the U.S. in 1994 after being paroled through Guantánamo, has been in ICE custody since Aug. 14, 2025, when Florida Highway Patrol stopped him on his way to work under the state's Operation Tidal Wave crackdown. He was first held at the South Florida Detention Facility, where he alleges a guard's blow left him partially deaf, then transferred to Camp East Montana in El Paso, where he witnessed a detainee's death, and later moved to the ICE El Paso Service Processing Center. Cuba has refused to accept his deportation, and he has refused removal to Mexico as a third country, citing fears of cartel violence and extortion. His first granddaughter was born while he has been detained, and he says he has not been able to meet or hold her. He has filed pro se and attorney-assisted habeas corpus petitions arguing his prolonged detention violates the Supreme Court's Zadvydas v. Davis limits on indefinite confinement, and a federal judge has yet to rule as his health and mental state decline and his family says he has grown depressed awaiting word from his lawyer.
Timeline
Sources
- A year in ICE detention: Cuban man’s case tests Supreme Court detention ruling
elpasomatters.org·Sep 27, 2026·archived copy
- Cuban Man Stuck in ICE Detention for Over a Year Amid Deportation Uncertainty
cubaheadlines.com·Sep 27, 2026·archived copy
- El Paso Matters – A year in ICE detention: Cuban man’s case tests Supreme Court detention ruling – Border Blogs & News
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