Was pro-Trump Cuban activist Hector Luis Valdes Cocho detained by ICE and held for possible deportation from the United States? Yes, that's true: Valdes Cocho, who was exiled from Cuba to the U.S. in 2022 because of his political activism, was initially arrested in November 2024, on state fraud and traffic charges in Florida. ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) took custody of him in January 2025, for possible deportation.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on TikTok on May 22, 2025, under the title "#maga #liberal #trump". The five-second clip is simply a surprised man's face under text that read:
Héctor Luis Valdés Cocho, Cuban activist who rallied others to vote for Trump was picked up by ICE and is in a detention center waiting to be deported.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Fri May 23 15:40:55 2025 UTC)
The U.S. State Department's 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Cuba (archived here) reported that the Cuban government forced Valdes Cocho into exile because of his political activism with the threat of prison if he did not leave his native country in 2022.
On January 5, independent journalists Esteban Rodríguez and Hector Valdés Cocho were taken to the airport and forced into exile.
The photo of Valdes Cocho holding the Trump "Let's Go Brandon" flag first appeared in an April 24, 2022, Instagram post (archived here) on the Partido Del Pueblo account -- A Cuban political party. This was just over a month after he arrived in the United States, where he apparently first settled in Wayne, Michigan, according to a March 17, 2022, news report. The post's caption "Nuestro Consejero de Seguridad Héctor Luis Valdés Cocho desde Michigan" ["Our Security Advisor, Héctor Luis Valdés Cocho, from Michigan."]
(Source: screenshot of Instagram by Lead Stories)
Valdes Cocho's own Instagram account has been deleted.
His arrest on fraud charges in Florida was reported in an article and on the Orange County Mugshot Facebook account on November 19, 2024.
A January 30, 2025, report on CiberCuba.com (archive here) reported that Valdes Cocho had been handed over to ICE for possible deportation.
(Source: screenshot of Google-translated page from cibercuba.com by Lead Stories)
Soon after that revelation, social media posts (archived here) began spreading the word of his possible deportation.
Although he was initially held in Florida, a search of the Online Detainee Locator System by Lead Stories on May 23, 2025, showed that Valdes Cocho was transferred Otay Mesa Detention Center, a federal prison in San Diego, California.
It is not immediately clear when a decision will be made by the federal government to deport him or where he would be sent.
