Miami's Hispanic Heritage Month Opens Sept. 15 Amid Record ICE Arrests and a Venezuela Oil Deal

MIAMI, FLORIDA - AUGUST 22: Miami Dade College's Freedom Tower, also known as “Ellis Island of the South”, is seen as it is prepared to reopen next month after a two-year, $30 million restoration on August 22, 2025 in Miami, Florida. Originally constructed in 1925 as the headquarters for the Miami Daily News it became the Cuban Assistance Center in 1962, created to aid the thousands of Cubans fleeing the 1959 communist revolution. Visitors can view oral histories, photographs and databases of refugees from Operation Pedro Pan, Freedom Flights, Mariel and the Balsero crisis as well as documentation of others who came to America for a better life. (Credit: Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Key Takeaways

• Miami-Dade's official kickoff lands Sept. 15 at 11 a.m. at the Stephen P. Clark Center; Miami Beach follows two days later with its own free celebration at Normandy Fountain Plaza.
• The touring Broadway production of Buena Vista Social Club anchors the season at the Adrienne Arsht Center, running Sept. 29 through Oct. 4.
• Miami's ICE field office has logged more than 41,000 arrests since January 2025 — the highest total of any field office nationally — while Cuban detentions have climbed sharply over roughly the same period.
• A newly detailed U.S.-Venezuela oil venture hands a private company 100-year rights to 17 Venezuelan oil fields, reviving arguments in Doral over Washington's dealings with Caracas.