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ICE Arrests Cuban Man Convicted of Hijacking Plane in 2003
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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A man who hijacked a Cubana Airlines plane is among those recently taken into custody by federal immigration agents, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Adermis Wilson-Gonzalez, a 56-year-old Cuban national, hijacked a Cubana Airlines Antonov 24 aircraft carrying passengers from Cuba to Key West, Florida in 2003. He was convicted in the United States that year for the crime and spent nearly two decades in jail before being released in 2021.
Why It Matters
The arrest comes as President Donald Trump directs immigration authorities to arrests migrants without legal status as he looks to fulfill his promise of mass deportations. The White House has said anyone living in the country unlawfully is a "criminal."
What To Know
In the spring of 2003, Wilson-Gonzalez, armed with a grenade, attempted to direct the pilot to fly the plane from Cuba's Isle of Youth to Miami. Due to insufficient fuel to cross the Florida Straits, the pilot made an emergency landing at Jose Marti International Airport in Havana. After a 14-hour negotiation, Wilson-Gonzalez was detained and 22 passengers were permitted to disembark.
The aircraft resumed its flight to Key West, Florida, with 25 passengers and six crew members aboard, accompanied by U.S. fighter jets. No one was injured in the incident.
File photo shows ICE agent conducting enforcement operations. Inset shows Adermis Wilson-Gonzalez, a 56-year-old Cuban national, who hijacked a Cubana Airlines Antonov 24 aircraft carrying passengers from Cuba to Key West, Florida in 2003. He...
File photo shows ICE agent conducting enforcement operations. Inset shows Adermis Wilson-Gonzalez, a 56-year-old Cuban national, who hijacked a Cubana Airlines Antonov 24 aircraft carrying passengers from Cuba to Key West, Florida in 2003. He was convicted in the United States in 2003 for the crime and spent nearly two days in jail before being released in 2021. More
ICE/AP
Wilson-Gonzalez was one of 1,361 individuals arrested in the Houston area last month who had entered the United States illegally and are either facing criminal charges or have prior criminal convictions, ICE said.
Among those arrested were 32 individuals convicted of child sex offenses, nine convicted of homicide-related crimes, and 16 identified as members of transnational gangs or drug cartels, according to ICE.
ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Houston field office also apprehended Arnulfo Olivares Cervantes, a 47-year-old Mexican national and former member of the Mexicles gang who was arrested on June 13.
According to ICE, Olivares Cervantes has entered the United States illegally six times and has multiple convictions, including two for trafficking cocaine, as well as convictions for attempted murder, evading arrest, illegal entry, and drug possession.
Luis Pablo Vasquez-Estolano, 29, a Mexican national who has been deported six times, was arrested on June 10. Vasquez-Estolano has previous convictions for homicide, aggravated robbery, burglary of a vehicle, and drug possession, ICE said.
Jose Meza, a 40-year-old Mexican national, was arrested on June 24. ICE reported that Meza has illegally entered the U.S. four times and has been convicted of sexual assault of a minor and theft.
Javier Escobar Gonzalez, 51, also from Mexico, was arrested on June 23. According to ICE, Escobar Gonzalez has been convicted of sexual indecency with a minor, criminal trespass with a deadly weapon, driving while intoxicated, and unauthorized use of a firearm.
Police surround the hijacked AN-24 Cuban Airlines aircraft as it is refuelled Tuesday, April 1, 2003 at the Jose Marti Airport in Havana, Cuba. (AP Photo/Jose Goitia)
Police surround the hijacked AN-24 Cuban Airlines aircraft as it is refuelled Tuesday, April 1, 2003 at the Jose Marti Airport in Havana, Cuba. (AP Photo/Jose Goitia)
AP Photo/Jose Goitia
What People Are Saying
ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston acting Field Office Director Gabriel Martinez said in a statement: "Despite attempts by some to undermine our mission by spreading false and malicious rumors, the brave men and women of ICE continue to work tirelessly around the clock targeting dangerous criminal aliens to restore integrity to our nation's immigration system and bolster public safety in our communities."
"The number of dangerous criminal aliens that they removed from local communities across Southeast Texas last month is just another example of their selfless and unyielding efforts to return our local communities to places where we can all raise our families without having to worry about child predators, gang members, or other violent criminal aliens preying on our loved ones."
Adermis Wilson-Gonzalez, speaking after he completed his prison sentence for the hijacking, according to the Havana Times: "I have nothing to reproach the US government for, because I don't think their punishment was unjust. I committed a crime, they found me guilty of breaking the laws, and I served my time right up to the last day, with respect for this country. For the first time since I was born, I'm a free person, because in Cuba I was never free."
