Cuban with Extensive Criminal Record Arrested by ICE in Texas

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently apprehended a Cuban national in Texas, who has accumulated over 20 criminal convictions across four different states. At 41, Roslandy García Cruz has been branded a "serial offender" by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with a record that includes 23 convictions for "knowing possession with intent to defraud of 15 or more counterfeit or unauthorized access devices, possession of criminal tools, forgery, and a violation of parole," according to an official statement from the agency.

The DHS highlighted García Cruz's case as part of their roundup of illegal immigrants detained over the weekend, labeling him as among "the worst of the worst." ICE agents arrested him in San Antonio on a Sunday. "The era of criminal illegal immigrants preying on American citizens is over," asserted Tricia McLaughlin, the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, following these recent detentions, which also included undocumented immigrants convicted of sexual offenses against minors, cocaine trafficking, and soliciting prostitution.

"While Americans were enjoying their weekend, ICE was diligently arresting pedophiles, fraudsters, drug traffickers, and other violent criminals to restore safety in the United States," McLaughlin stated, laying blame on President Joe Biden's administration for "enabling serial offenders to exploit Americans."

In April 2023, local media in San Antonio reported one of García Cruz's arrests for identity theft. He was apprehended by police during an undercover operation at an RV dealership while attempting to purchase a vehicle valued at over $58,000 using a stolen Texas driver's license, shared journalist Robert Price on the social platform X. At that time, García Cruz was already on federal probation for forgery.

In early November 2024, the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office in Florida announced the capture of García Cruz along with another man. They were found with cloned credit cards containing stolen information from financial institutions like Navy Federal Credit Union, Chase Bank, and Capital One, as well as card cloning devices. The authorities' statement indicated that García Cruz had a nationwide extradition order from Texas for violating parole, linked to prior convictions involving fraud and possession of card cloning equipment.

García Cruz's recent arrest adds to the growing number of Cuban immigrants with serious criminal records detained in recent months, as part of the Trump administration's tough stance against undocumented foreigners who have been previously convicted or accused of severe crimes. These individuals are either held in ICE custody or have already been deported from the U.S.

Massive arrests of undocumented migrants in raids conducted by ICE and other federal and state agencies have exceeded 149,000 in just seven months, as reported in early August. Under Trump's administration, deportations reached a new peak, averaging 1,435 undocumented immigrants per day over the last two weeks, marking the highest figure in the country's recent history.

For Cubans with irregular status, many cases have surfaced involving individuals without a criminal record or final deportation order, yet they have been detained and confined in ICE detention centers pending expulsion. Official DHS data notes over 42,000 Cubans with final deportation orders in the U.S.; however, the refusal of the Cuban regime to accept those with criminal records or who emigrated before January 2017 has complicated these processes. Washington has sent some to third countries. In May, two island nationals with extensive criminal backgrounds in the U.S. were deported to South Sudan, and in July, another Cuban immigrant to the Kingdom of Eswatini; while an undisclosed number have been expelled to Mexico.