US detains Cuban national and family, pending deportation

A Cuban national who spent more than a decade working for a Cuban government organization has been taken into federal custody and will be removed from the United States, the State Department announced this week. Carlos Antonio Lloga Dominguez, along with his wife and son, are in custody pending deportation after Secretary of State Marco Rubio terminated their legal status.

Officials described Lloga Dominguez as an employee of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), an organization they characterized as a key influence and intelligence front for the Cuban government. The State Department sanctioned ICAP in early June, labeling it the central node of a sprawling Cuban intelligence and influence network spanning more than 150 countries. The department stated that ICAP traffics in anti-American propaganda, cultivates pro-Havana activists and politicians, and lobbies U.S. officials on behalf of the Cuban government.

Secretary Rubio said in a statement that America will never become home for foreign communists who peddle propaganda or run subversive influence operations. He warned that anyone who transacts with ICAP will be sanctioned, prosecuted, or deported.