Havana/This Thursday, the eighth deportation flight from the United States arrived in Havana so far from 2025 with 161 migrants, 37 women and 124 men. The plane landed at the José Martí International Airport, official pages of the Interior Ministry reported. In their brief statement, they said that it is the thirtieth third return operation of irregular migrants held this year from different countries of the region.
In the previous days the expectation that on this flight was returned the former Cuban judge Melody González Pedraza, known for her performance in the processes against protesters of July 11, 2021. However, her name continues to appear in the records of the Richwood Immigrant Center, in Louisiana, where she remains detained by the Customs Immigration and Control Service (ICE). So far the official list of Cubans deported on this flight is unknown, but everything indicates that the former official does not appear among them.
Among those who were returned to the island, two passengers were delivered directly to the Cuban police for crimes committed before leaving the island, an official said Martí News. The flight also did not leave Miami, as generally happens, although the source refused to offer the place of origin. Nevertheless, 14ymedio He found that the company in charge of the transport was OMNI Air International, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
As for González, he served as a criminal judge in the Municipal Court of Crucijada, in Villa Clara, and became known after validating sentences against young people who participated in the protests of 2021. Although he publicly declared he has received pressures from his superiors in his judicial work, various human rights organizations responsible for having endorsed convictions dictated under orders of state security.
The former judge traveled to the United States on May 30, 2024 through the program of parole humanitarian, but was arrested upon arrival and requested political asylum. Since then it remained in ICE custody while his case was processed in migratory cuts in Florida. On May 21, 2025, a judge issued a deportation order against him. His defense appealed without success and, in recent weeks, the process seemed to be directed towards expulsion.
González’s husband was deported weeks ago and is already located at the crossroads, Villa Clara. Testimonies They suggest that the forced exit of his spouse was used by the defense of the former judge as an argument that there was an attempt to press it during his legal process.
Deportation flights to Cuba have remained regularly in 2025, usually last Thursday of each month. Until the end of July seven flights with more than 830 repatriated in total had been counted. The July operation transported 118 people. In these transfers, ICE executes the removal orders issued by immigration judges, coordinating with the Cuban authorities the reception of the nationals.
In practice, flights are only officially confirmed after their landing in Havana.
