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By Joshua Rhett Miller
Senior Reporter
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A man who fled Cuba has been detained by federal immigration officials for more than seven months as he awaits the outcome of his asylum application.
Jose Miguel Suri Hernández, 26, entered the United States in November 2024 via the CBP One mobile application, which previously allowed migrants to access services provided by Customs and Border Protection, including the asylum process. The platform was later relaunched in 2025 by the Trump administration as CBP Home — designed to incentivize illegal immigrants who want to deport voluntarily and receive a $2,600 "exit" bonus.
After scheduling his U.S. arrival at Calexico, California, federal immigration officials released Hernández for two years as he awaited potential pathways for asylum and lawful permanent residence. He eventually settled down in Staunton, Virginia, where he worked at a produce packaging facility until Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained him following a hearing at Sterling Immigration Court in July, WMRA reported.
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Hernández's girlfriend, Luz Hernández, who is a U.S. citizen, spoke to the station regarding his detention, insisting he wants to "be able to work and contribute to this country." She and Hernández's attorney, Maken Masshour, said he fled Cuba due to fear of reprisal for his political activism.
"If he returns to Cuba, he is going to be arrested there, and jail there is forever – due to him protesting the Cuban government," Luz Hernández said through a translator. "They have even threatened his mother with taking her job."
Hernández had originally been authorized to stay in the United States for two years, but that timeline shifted dramatically following the cessation of a Department of Homeland Security program last year that granted parole and temporary protected status to Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan nationals.
The policy change led to Hernández's authorization to remain in the United States to revert to April 2025, leading to an immigration hearing in July where a judge dismissed his case, WMRA reported.
"As soon as we opened the courthouse doors, ICE arrested him," Luz Hernández told an interpreter. "They called him by his name, they said, 'Are you Suri?' They arrested him right in front of me. It was a very sad thing … They were very cruel. They arrested him so roughly that they even cut through his skin. He was bleeding and everything."
Immigration officials detained Hernández despite no prior criminal record or existing deportation order, WMRA reported. He remains in custody as of Friday at the Farmville Detention Center in Virginia, online records show.
"I've seen him now on six occasions," Luz Hernández told an interpreter. "He's depressed. He's always been skinny but he's even skinnier now."
Federal officials did not immediately return a request for comment regarding Hernández early Friday, but U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials cited last year's action by the Trump administration as the case proceeds.
"A pending green card application does not shield an alien from enforcement actions by ICE," USCIS spokesman Matthew Tragesser told WMRA. "USCIS has paused all adjudications for aliens from presidentially designated high-risk countries while we work to ensure that all aliens from these countries are vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible. The safety of the American people always comes first."
An online fundraiser for Hernández has garnered $2,500 as of Friday.
"His only family has already spent $11,000 of their savings but are now out of funds," the site reads. "This is his last chance; he has been in immigration detention for almost 8 months."
A hearing for Hernández's asylum application, which remains active, is scheduled for March 13. Luz Hernández also hopes the couple can realize their dreams and ultimately start a life together in the United States.
"We were going to get married, but he didn't bring his birth certificate from Cuba, and when his father sent it, it arrived one day before he was arrested here," she told WMRA.
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