MIAMI — Federal immigration officers arrested a 58-year-old Cuban illegal immigrant with seven criminal convictions who had defied a removal order for more than 26 years, ICE announced, crediting the Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s Office for turning him over upon his release from county custody.
Elias Cardoza-Torres was taken into ICE custody on June 11 after his release from Miami-Dade detention. An immigration judge ordered him removed on April 12, 2000, but Cardoza-Torres remained in the country and continued committing crimes for decades afterward. More than half the offenses in his three-decade spree occurred after that removal order.
“ICE works closely with our law enforcement partners to remove criminal illegal aliens from our communities,” said acting ICE Director David J. Venturella. “Cardoza-Torres was never a lawful permanent resident of the U.S., and an immigration judge ordered him removed more than 26 years ago, on April 12, 2000. We’re talking about an individual who completely disregarded our immigration laws and went on to ignore our criminal laws, as well. Fortunately, the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office has turned him over to ICE custody, where he’ll remain pending removal.”
Cardoza-Torres entered the United States in 1989 as a parolee but never adjusted his immigration status. His criminal record stretches across three decades and includes convictions for selling heroin, for which he received five years in prison after being charged in October 1999, and burglary, which carried a 22-month prison sentence after an August 1997 charge. He was convicted of felony cocaine possession in November 1991 and sentenced to two days in jail.
After the removal order, Cardoza-Torres continued accumulating convictions: vehicle theft in December 2011, sentenced to 60 days in jail; drug possession in January 2013, sentenced to 60 days; cocaine possession in November 2017, sentenced to 25 days; and a felony weapons offense in September 2018, sentenced to 22 days in jail. He had also been arrested for assault.
The case highlights the role of local law enforcement cooperation in federal immigration enforcement. Miami-Dade County, unlike several large jurisdictions that restrict cooperation with ICE, transferred Cardoza-Torres directly to federal custody upon his release. Cardoza-Torres remains in ICE detention pending removal to Cuba.