Miami Latin Grammy Winner Detained by ICE After Flight From New York

Degnis Bofill, a Latin Grammy-winning percussionist and composer who calls Miami home, was detained by ICE agents at Miami International Airport after returning from a performance in New York. His wife, Mara Delgado, says he was briefly allowed to call her before being moved through processing, and a GoFundMe she started to cover his legal fees has already pulled in more than $45,000 from over 500 donors in just two days.

Bofill had just played a show at Pocket Jazz Club in Midtown Manhattan when he flew back to Miami and was taken into custody, according to Miami New Times. An ICE spokesman confirmed the arrest and said, per the agency's statement, that Bofill had not complied with the terms of his 2023 admission to the United States. ICE also said it would continue identifying, arresting and removing people who violate U.S. law, and encouraged potential targets to leave the country voluntarily, according to the same statement relayed by the outlet.

Delgado told the paper that her husband has an open asylum case pending, and she has separately said he entered the U.S. legally on a visa in 2023, according to a Facebook post reported by CiberCuba. She described the situation as a senseless tragedy for Miami's Cuban music community. ICE moved Bofill from a transitional hold in Miramar to the Krome North Service Processing Center, the same facility Hoodline has covered before amid oversight scrutiny.

Days Missing From ICE's Own Database

For several days after his August 19 arrest, Bofill did not appear in ICE's online detainee locator or in immigration court databases while he sat in the transitional facility, according to Delgado's Facebook account cited by CiberCuba. That gap reportedly prevented attorneys from formally taking his case until a destination detention center was assigned. The delay meant no one could file appearances or begin bond proceedings during those crucial early days.

Bofill was born in Manzanillo, Cuba, in 1987 and began studying music at age 9. He was accepted to Conservatorio José María Ochoa in Holguín, studied there for three years, specialized in symphonic and popular percussion, and graduated in 2006, after which he taught at a nearby music school for three years, reportedly arriving at 6 a.m. some mornings just to reserve the school's only xylophone or timpani, per Miami New Times.

A Career Built on Grammy-Winning Collaborations

Bofill has toured dozens of countries, recorded on more than 28 albums, and performed alongside artists including Blondie, Arturo O'Farrill, Roberto Fonseca and Omara Portuondo, according to background reported by Voyage MIA Magazine. He formed the Afro-Cuban jazz and world music outfit Golpes Libres, attended the Latin Alternative Music Conference, and conducts workshops and events for his local community, the outlet notes. In January 2025 he became an official voting member of the Latin Recording Academy, building on two JoJazz awards he won in Cuba in 2016 for interpretation and composition.

His best-known credit came as a percussionist and vocalist on Síntesis's 2022 album Ancestros Sinfónico, a symphonic reimagining of the group's 1987 landmark Ancestros produced by X Alfonso, which blended Afro-Cuban Santería chants with a full orchestra and won Best Folk Album at the 23rd Annual Latin Grammy Awards, according to Radio COCO. In 2023, Bofill was also selected as a fellow for OneBeat, a musical exchange program run through the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs that brings international musicians to the U.S. for collaborative residencies, according to OneBeat.

Part of a Wider Pattern Targeting Cuban Artists

Bofill's detention comes just days after pianist Andy García Palacios was detained by ICE agents at Los Angeles International Airport on August 15 and transferred to the Adelanto Processing Center, with ICE alleging his stay authorization had expired in May 2024. García Palacios's legal team argued he had entered legally, had an active immigration process underway, and had no criminal record, according to Diario Las Américas. Iconic Cuban jazz pianist Chucho Valdés publicly expressed sorrow over the back-to-back arrests and urged federal authorities to quickly resolve both musicians' immigration statuses so they could resume their careers, per CiberCuba.

The arrests fit a documented surge in enforcement: ICE arrests targeting Cuban nationals jumped 463% between late 2024 and early 2026, driven largely by agents intercepting travelers at airport check-in counters and boarding gates, according to Diario Las Américas. Florida immigration courts issued 4,007 deportation orders against Cuban citizens between October 2025 and June 2026, per Syracuse University TRAC data cited by the outlet, while Department of Homeland Security figures show more than 42,000 Cubans nationwide remain under final deportation orders, with over 4,883 already deported since January 2025, according to CubaHeadlines. Hoodline has previously reported on related enforcement trends, including a South Florida Cuban told to self-deport and the case of a 75-year-old Cuban national who died in ICE custody.

For now, Bofill remains at Krome while his asylum case and the circumstances of his 2023 admission are sorted out, with ICE maintaining he violated its terms and his family and supporters pointing to his pending asylum application, lack of a criminal record, and standing as a State Department cultural fellow and Grammy-winning artist. Delgado's GoFundMe campaign continues to grow as friends and fans rally behind him.