Donald Trump’s administration is discreetly transferring hundreds of Cubans and other immigrants with significant criminal records to Mexico, as part of an expansion of deportations from the US to third countries, it was revealed an investigation of Miami Herald.
“Although Cuba accepts deportation flights from the United States, its standard practice has been to reject deportees who have been convicted of certain crimes. This has left many immigrants from the island in limbo for years: unable to return to their country, but stripped of their legal status to remain in the United States,” said the Herald.
According to the report, Many Cubans are stranded in Mexico, without documentation and with an uncertain future. Some told the Florida newspaper that they have been looking for food, shelter or employment for weeks, and have even slept on the street.
The outlet interviewed six deported men and the lawyers of six others, who stated that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) transported them on buses to the southern border and handed them over to Mexican authorities.
All They had been convicted of serious crimes in the United Statesincluding drug trafficking, domestic violence, armed robbery, child abuse and assault, said the Herald.
“If you come to our country illegally and violate our laws, you could end up in CECOT, Eswatini, Ghana, South Sudan or another third country,” he told Herald DHS Undersecretary Tricia McLaughlin, referring to the policy of sending foreigners with criminal records to nations with which Washington has deportation agreements.
CECOT is the maximum security prison in El Salvador where the Trump administration He has already sent more than 230 Venezuelans. According to ProPublica and the Texas Tribune, two independent, nonprofit news agencies, the Department of Homeland Security knew that many of these Venezuelan citizens had no proven criminal history.
USA and the deportation of Cubans
He Herald He also identified among those deported a 66-year-old man accused of attempted child abuse in Alabama and another convicted of aggravated assault with a machete in Texas.
Neither DHS nor Mexico’s National Immigration Institute have offered comments on the legal basis or the specific agreements that support these transfers.
During the Biden Administration, Mexico received up to 30,000 migrants per month from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela, although these returns usually occurred at the border and not from within the United States.
In contrast, The Trump Administration appears to have expanded the scope of deportations to third countriesincluding long-term residents with criminal records.
Immigration lawyers warned that this practice exposes migrants to situations of vulnerability and exploitation.
“Sending a person to a country where they have no ties or protection, even to the other side of the world, is inhumane,” attorney Mark Prada told the Herald.
Willy Allen, also a lawyer specializing in immigration, assured that I had never seen cases of Cubans sent to third countries.
“I have no problem with deporting criminals,” he said, “but if they are not going to return them to their country, they should have the opportunity to choose where to go.”
