Scull Delgado arrived in the US during the 1980 Mariel boatlift, fleeing Cuba's mandatory military service. He settled in California, married a U.S. citizen, raised three children and four grandchildren, and worked for decades while building toward retirement—just one month away when immigration agents arrested him during a routine annual sign-in at a U.S. immigration office. He had served his time for a crime committed in the 1990s and maintained a clean record afterward. By November 2025, he had been transported to Mexico, separated from his family after nearly 46 years in the country.