Cuban man in US for decades detained despite legal protections
Written by Black Hot Fire Network on September 30, 2025
The family of a Cuban man who came to the United States as an infant says he was detained by law enforcement last week.Sheena Allende-Smith has spent the last four days poring over documents and calling attorneys, waiting and hoping to get a phone call from her father, Jose Manuel Allende.”On Friday, my dad woke up and took my little sister to school, and when he got home, he made a cup of coffee. went outside, and he was greeted by ICE, homeland security,” Allende-Smith said.Last week, federal and local authorities detained 150 people in Brevard County as part of a larger state-wide immigration operation that focused on worksite enforcement at construction sites.”A month ago, I told him to be careful because they’re gonna pick you up. You look Hispanic. You’re covered in tattoos. You’re a construction worker. They’re gonna grab you,” Allende-Smith said. “And he said, ‘No, I’m Cuban. I’m protected, they can’t take me, I’m legal.'”Allende came here legally from Cuba through the Freedom Flights program, a large-scale immigration operation that transported hundreds of thousands of Cubans who wanted to flee the country to the United States from 1965-1973. Allende came to America when he was just two years old, and he has a driver’s license and Social Security card.Allende-Smith said, “He owns a home currently. He’s a small-business owner. He has a minor child. He has a child with a disability. He has everything that any of us have. All of us Americans. He owns a car. He has a driver’s license. He’s not an illegal.”Allende also has a criminal record from more than two decades ago and he never got his citizenship. His daughter says he was given a deportation order in 2016 but was told by the courts that he could never be deported if he was place in the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program, which he has successfully done for the last nine years.Allende-Smith said, “They came here legally; the government invited them in, and now the government is saying ‘get out.’ Why? Why does he have to get out after 58 years? It’s not fair to us as children. I know I’m an adult, but he’s still my dad.”
The family of a Cuban man who came to the United States as an infant says he was detained by law enforcement last week.
Sheena Allende-Smith has spent the last four days poring over documents and calling attorneys, waiting and hoping to get a phone call from her father, Jose Manuel Allende.
“On Friday, my dad woke up and took my little sister to school, and when he got home, he made a cup of coffee. [He] went outside, and he was greeted by ICE, homeland security,” Allende-Smith said.
Last week, federal and local authorities detained 150 people in Brevard County as part of a larger state-wide immigration operation that focused on worksite enforcement at construction sites.
“A month ago, I told him to be careful because they’re gonna pick you up. You look Hispanic. You’re covered in tattoos. You’re a construction worker. They’re gonna grab you,” Allende-Smith said. “And he said, ‘No, I’m Cuban. I’m protected, they can’t take me, I’m legal.'”
Allende came here legally from Cuba through the Freedom Flights program, a large-scale immigration operation that transported hundreds of thousands of Cubans who wanted to flee the country to the United States from 1965-1973. Allende came to America when he was just two years old, and he has a driver’s license and Social Security card.
Allende-Smith said, “He owns a home currently. He’s a small-business owner. He has a minor child. He has a child with a disability. He has everything that any of us have. All of us Americans. He owns a car. He has a driver’s license. He’s not an illegal.”
Allende also has a criminal record from more than two decades ago and he never got his citizenship. His daughter says he was given a deportation order in 2016 but was told by the courts that he could never be deported if he was place in the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program, which he has successfully done for the last nine years.
Allende-Smith said, “They came here legally; the government invited them in, and now the government is saying ‘get out.’ Why? Why does he have to get out after 58 years? It’s not fair to us as children. I know I’m an adult, but he’s still my dad.”
