A Cuban stowaway, former employee of the airport in Havanawhich came to Miami six months ago as a passenger on a JetBlue plane, now faces deportation proceedings.
in statements to the Univision networkThe man, named Yuniel Castillo, complained bitterly that if he returns to Cuba he could face 25 years in prison for “desertion.”
Castillo is in the Pompano Beach immigration jail, where authorities send irregular immigrants who are in deportation proceedings. Cuba and the United States recently agreed to resume deportation flights for Cubans.
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“I arrived six months ago. I came by plane, hidden in a plane. I worked at the airport. They have kept me here all this time,” explained the Cuban.
Castillo’s case is somewhat similar to that of Yunier García Duarte, also a former worker at the Havana airport, who three years ago traveled as a stowaway in the hold from a plane and was granted political asylum in the United States.
Castillo revealed that his process of interviews and hearings before an immigration court has already finished and that the judge has issued a deportation order to return him to Cuba.
“If I come to Cuba, they can throw me more than 25 years in prison for having deserted, for having hidden in a plane. I have a small child and I am uncertain of what could happen to me. All of us who are here have that fear, ”Castillo lamented in his statements.
The Immigration and Border Control Service (ICE) did not want to comment on Castillo’s case for “privacy” reasons. On the other hand, it was not possible to find a lawyer who has defended him to talk about his case.
