Grammy-winning percussionist from Cuba seeking asylum in U.S. detained by ICE in Miami
Immigration authorities have arrested a Latin Grammy Award honoree from Cuba who is seeking asylum in Miami — one of the latest targets of broadening immigration enforcement in South Florida under President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed to the Miami Herald that the agency detained Degnis Bofill Miranda, a 38-year-old jazz and folk music percussionist, on Aug 19. His wife, Mara Delgado, told the Herald that authorities detained him at Miami International Airport when Bofill was returning from performances in New York City.
Public records show Bofill was at Krome Detention Center as of Wednesday afternoon.
“I can’t think of how anyone wouldn’t want him here in their country as part of their community. They would be proud to have him,” Delgado said.
Bofill’s case is another example of how even asylum seekers, who are authorized to be in the U.S. while their cases are ongoing, have become targets for detention and deportation by the Trump administration. It’s also a reflection of how officials have shifted to aggressive tactics such as detaining asylum seekers and spouses of U.S. citizens with pending green cards while they are traveling within the United States.
“ICE will continue to execute the Trump administration’s enforcement priorities by identifying, arresting and removing illegal aliens who violate U.S. law,” an ICE spokesperson said.
Bofill, who is from the eastern Cuban port city of Manzanillo, grew up immersed in music. He studied at the conservatory in the eastern city of Holguín, Delgado said. As a student, he would wake up at 6 a.m. to reserve the school’s limited number of xylophones and timpanis, Bofill said during an interview with VoyageMIA magazine.
He trained in piano and voice but specialized in percussion instruments like congas, drums, and timbales.
“Music is more than his work, it’s his whole life, his passion,” Delgado said.
The Latin Recording Academy awarded him a Grammy in 2022 for his work as a background vocalist and musician in “Ancestros Sinfónicos,” an album from the Cuban fusion band Síntesis that won in the Best Folk Album Category. The following year, he traveled to the United States on a visa through OneBeat, an arts exchange program sponsored by the U.S. State Department. “I am very happy to be part of this adventure,” he wrote on his Instagram about the music residency program.
Bofill was on an exchange visa, Delgado said, but quickly decided to seek asylum based on personal circumstances. ICE acknowledged that Bofill had legally entered the U.S. but said he had “failed to comply with the terms of his admission.”
Under federal and international law, immigrants in the U.S. can seek asylum regardless of whether they overstayed visas or entered illegally. They are also authorized to be here for the duration of their cases.
Delgado and Bofill met through a mutual friend in Havana, Delgado said, though she knew his face from performances around Havana. The couple has been together for over six years, moving in when the pandemic started, coming to the U.S. together when Bofill was selected for the fellowship, and getting married in 2023.
Starting over in Miami was difficult, said Delgado. But Bofill quickly found a place in the city’s cultural scene. He made friendships across genres, spanning from pop to urban.
“He’s charming. If you look up the definition of the word in the dictionary, a picture of him shows up. But not in a superficial way. This charm deepens the more you know him,” she said.
In music, Bofill also found a social mission. In Cuba, he visited rural communities to find musically talented children and help them connect with the resources for a music education. In Miami, he was a music therapist and also directed Golpes Libres, a percussion ensemble experimenting with traditional and modern sounds.
Delgado, a legal assistant studying to become a certified paralegal, was on vacation visiting friends in Canada when she learned her husband had been detained. “I couldn’t crumble because he was on the phone,” she said. “He needed me to tell him that everything would be ok.”
Delgado hopped on the first flight she could back to South Florida. Since then, she has advocated for her husband and launched a GoFundMe to get him legal representation. The online fundraiser has already raised over $50,000. “My priority is to get him released,” she said.
On his Instagram account, Bofill shared snippets of his musical life: A poster announcing a performance honoring Celia Cruz in North Miami. A photo of his name tag at the Latin Alternative Music Conference. A video dancing his latest single on Wynwood’s graffitied streets.
Two days before ICE detained him, Bofill posted a behind-the-scenes video for his latest release, Caminate Miami. He sways from side to side on the conga, accompanied by musicians playing the trumpet, saxophone, guitar, drums and piano.
The scene cuts to Bofill with a big smile as he drives in a convertible, the background shifting into city skylines, verdant greenery, and turquoise waters, singing for his adopted city.
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