Three Cuban nationals — including Carlos Antonio Lloga Dominguez, a former employee of a Cuban government-linked organisation sanctioned by the United States earlier this month — have been taken into federal custody after Secretary of State Marco Rubio terminated their legal status, the State Department confirmed on 1 July. The detentions mark one of the most direct enforcement actions yet under the Trump administration's intensified Cuba policy.

Who Was Detained

State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott confirmed that federal agents apprehended the three individuals — Lloga Dominguez, his wife, and their son — this week following Rubio's revocation of their legal status. All three are now in federal custody pending removal from the United States.

The department alleged that Lloga Dominguez 'spent more than a decade working as a foreign subversive for the Communist Cuban regime's premier influence and intelligence front group in the United States.' He is accused of spending more than 10 years employed by the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the People (ICAP) and of maintaining ties to what the department described as a 'transnational communist subversion network' throughout his time in the country.

What Is ICAP and Why Was It Sanctioned

ICAP was designated for sanctions by Rubio under Executive Order 14404 earlier this month. The State Department described ICAP as 'the central node in a sprawling Cuban intelligence and influence operation,' claiming the organisation spans more than 2,000 organisations across more than 150 countries.

The department also alleged that ICAP has maintained longstanding ties with Cuban intelligence. It identified ICAP's current president, Fernando Gonzalez Llort, as 'a convicted Cuban spy who served 15 years in US prison for his role in the infamous Wasp Network — a massive illegal Cuban spy ring uncovered in Florida in the late 1990s.'

Allegations Against ICAP's US Operations

According to the department's statement, ICAP — working in coordination with the Cuban government — maintains 'an outsized footprint across the United States,' where it is accused of 'trafficking in vile anti-American propaganda, cultivating pro-Havana regime activists and politicians, and lobbying federal, state and local politicians on behalf of the Cuban dictatorship.'

The department further alleged that ICAP facilitates ties between Havana and radical groups in the United States, using what it called 'America's far left milieu as a vehicle to export Cuba's Communist revolution to the United States.'

Sanctions and Broader Cuba Policy

Under Executive Order 14404, all ICAP property and interests in property are blocked, and all transactions involving the organisation are prohibited unless specifically authorised by the Departments of State or Treasury. The department also warned that 'any foreign aliens involved in ICAP's anti-American subversion operations should expect to soon find themselves on an ICE deportation flight.'

The Trump administration has taken a markedly tougher approach toward Cuba since returning to office, expanding sanctions, tightening immigration enforcement, and increasing pressure on organisations it says act on behalf of the Cuban government. Washington has argued that such measures are aimed at countering foreign influence operations and protecting US national security. The detentions of the Lloga Dominguez family signal that enforcement action is now following swiftly behind the sanctions designations.