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Cuban man says he was locked in phone-booth-sized cage for 15 hours at 'Alligator Alcatraz'

Sep 18, 2026·Location: Ochopee, FL

Country of origin: Mexico

Cuban man says he was locked in phone-booth-sized cage for 15 hours at 'Alligator Alcatraz'
Photo via Instagram

Raúl Suárez Herrero, a 59-year-old Cuban man who moved to the U.S. at age 12 and lived there for nearly five decades, was detained by ICE during a routine annual check-in in July 2025. He was held at the 'Alligator Alcatraz' detention facility in the Florida Everglades, where he says guards locked him in a metal cage roughly the size of a phone booth for more than 15 hours after he prayed aloud for a fellow detainee having a seizure. Suárez said he was kicked hard enough to bruise his leg, denied food and medical care, and left unable to lie down while fearing snakes and mosquitoes entering the cage, an experience he described as leaving him psychologically 'shattered.' A former truck driver who built a business with his brother, a U.S. citizen who died of COVID in 2021, Suárez was deported to Mexico in February 2026 after a federal judge's deadline for his release or removal passed. A DHS inspector general report later confirmed the facility used such small cages, calling the practice 'highly unconventional,' though DHS disputes claims that conditions were inhumane.

Timeline

Sep 18, 2026Spoke to NBC News from Mexico; DHS inspector general report confirmed use of small cages at the facility
Feb 1, 2026Deported to Mexico after a federal judge's deadline for release or removal passed
Jul 15, 2025Allegedly locked in a small cage for over 15 hours at 'Alligator Alcatraz' after praying aloud for a seizing detainee
Jul 1, 2025Detained by ICE during a routine annual check-in appointment
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