ICE arrests Ramón Acosta-Díaz, a Cuban convicted of homicide

ICE arrested Ramón Acosta-Díaz, a Cuban citizen with an intentional homicide conviction connected to South Bay, Florida, during Columbus Day weekend. The Department of Homeland Security included him in an October 13 release highlighting 20 people arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the holiday. Acosta-Díaz was the only Cuban citizen on the list.

The others were nine Mexican citizens, four Guatemalans, three Ecuadorians, two Dominicans and one Colombian. With Acosta-Díaz, the group included citizens of six countries. DHS described those listed as foreign nationals with serious criminal records and presented the list under its “Worst of the Worst” initiative. The campaign, which publicizes immigration arrests, has operated since late 2025.

The records cited in the release include homicide, vehicular homicide, sex offenses against minors, rape, heroin distribution and driving under the influence. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin defended the operations and said ICE agents continued working during the holiday weekend to confront what he described as public-safety threats.

Mullin also criticized politicians in so-called sanctuary cities, accusing them of disregarding immigration detainers. He said ICE would continue seeking and arresting people with criminal records and defended their removal from the United States. DHS had highlighted other Cubans in the same campaign: Ángel Ramírez-Castillo, cited October 10 for attempted murder and aggravated assault convictions in Miami, and Rubén Ayala-Laies, identified in late September for second-degree murder in Florida.

The release also described other cases among the announced arrests, including a Colombian convicted of murder in a New York drug-trafficking plot, an Ecuadorian convicted of aggravated vehicular homicide in Queens and a Guatemalan convicted of second-degree rape in North Carolina. These cases formed part of the selection DHS publicized during the holiday weekend, along with people from Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.