Iván (a pseudonym), 52, came to the United States from Cuba in the mid-1990s to join his father, a naturalized U.S. citizen, in Savannah, Georgia. He holds a diploma in civil engineering, speaks English and Spanish, and spent 30 years in Georgia and Miami, where he raised two daughters. The elder serves in the U.S. Navy and was stationed for five years in Japan; the younger lives in Dallas. He also helped raise three stepchildren. He lost his green card over an old case and checked in with ICE for about ten years. "I was a resident of the United States, and I let it go," he said. He says he gave it up "voluntarily, thinking they would send me to Cuba. And it was a stupid mistake." In early 2026, on a weekend in Miami, he went out for cigarettes while police were in the area. An officer asked whether he had been at a nearby fight and for his Social Security number, and something from years earlier came up in the system. He was held about three days by police and eight days at Metro West jail until ICE picked him up, then about eight days at "Alligator Alcatraz." On March 2, 2026, he was bused from Dallas to the border and into Mexico. He now rents an apartment in Villahermosa, is in recovery through AA and NA, and is waiting on Mexican residency. HUMSI interviewed him in Villahermosa in September 2026.