Cuban migrant deported to Africa without warning, later kidnapped
Yasmany Moreno de Armas, a 31-year-old Cuban migrant who arrived in Florida by raft in September 2016 under the 'Wet Foot, Dry Foot' policy, ran a small trucking business hauling freight between Miami and Tampa and helped support his parents near Orlando. His later bid for a green card under the Cuban Adjustment Act was denied because it was filed after his parole had expired, and immigration officials arrested him in May 2025, holding him in ICE custody for about a year. He was deported to the Central African Republic in late July 2026 on a shackled, 21-hour flight, not learning his destination until nearly five hours in, and said, "We cannot leave, we don't have documents and we're suffering and missing our families." He manages asthma and diabetes and said the flight left him ill for days afterward. He was later kidnapped on a street in Bangui by armed men he believed were police officers, paying about $100 with another detainee to secure release. A month later he remained in Bangui without a passport, staying at a hotel he may be forced to leave within 90 days, alongside deportees from Ecuador, Honduras, Nepal, Russia and Vietnam, and said he fears returning to Cuba, where he was previously imprisoned for trying to flee the island. He said he would rather spend months in a U.S. detention center than remain stranded, and his lawyer told him U.S. officials may negotiate his return while his case continues.
