A South Florida man who spent months in federal immigration custody has spoken publicly for the first time after his release from a remote detention site commonly called “Alligator Alcatraz.”
Forty-five-year-old Maikel Rojas says he was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in October 2025 when he arrived for his required annual check-in at the Miramar immigration office. Instead of being allowed to return home, Rojas was transferred to the isolated facility, later held there for nearly five months.
Rojas was released in March after his wife, Roxana Torres, who had been protesting outside the site with other family members, received a phone call notifying her of his release from Krome Detention Center. The couple were reunited after months apart.
Describing conditions inside the detention center, Rojas called them inhumane. He said detainees had little to no access to visitors or attorneys, lived in overcrowded, unsanitary spaces, and were given poor-quality food. “We have no privacy. … There are cameras over the toilets,” he said in Spanish. He added that 32 people sometimes had to share three toilets and that meals often arrived spoiled after sitting in the heat, and he said he lost about 45 pounds during his four-and-a-half months in custody.
Torres said Rojas’ release came after filing a habeas corpus petition, a legal avenue that challenges the lawfulness of detention in court. She learned about the option from another detainee’s wife. “One of the wives told me, ‘Do you want to do habeas corpus for your husband?’ … It’s free,” Torres said.
Rojas immigrated from Cuba in 2004. In 2005 he was arrested and later convicted as an accessory to murder, serving 13 years in prison. After his release he was required to report annually to immigration authorities — the routine that led to his detention last October.
Although now at home, Rojas’ immigration case remains unresolved. He is required to wear an ankle monitor, faces an upcoming hearing that could determine whether the device will be removed, and is scheduled to report again to the Miramar facility next week.
CBS News Miami contacted ICE for comment; the agency acknowledged the inquiry and said it needed more time to respond.