Andrés (a pseudonym), 58, is a Cuban long-haul truck driver who lived 32 years in the Miami area. He lost his green card over an old case and afterward lived under a removal order that could not be carried out because Cuba would not take him back. For years he renewed his work permit and driver's license and reported to ICE every year. In early 2026 he went to his annual check-in and was detained. "I went to report and they kept me," he said. He spent about two months at "Alligator Alcatraz" in the Florida Everglades. "Nobody goes in or out there. No visits, no lawyers... so nobody sees the conditions we were in." When a detainee collapsed, he says, help came only after the whole cage banged on the bars. "They don't force you, exactly, but they force you by making it impossible." Rather than spend years detained, he signed for removal to Mexico. "Obey the law? I obey it. But I don't have to do years for free when I haven't done anything." In about March 2026 he rode 48 hours on a bus from Reynosa to Villahermosa with about 40 people and one toilet. "Sleeping on the street for five months, I've lost 90 pounds since March." His wife of seven years left for her native Colombia rather than stay in the United States without him. HUMSI interviewed him in Villahermosa in September 2026.