A total of 232 Cuban irregular migrants were returned this Thursday from the United States, in the tenth air deportation operation of the year and the largest recorded to date in 2025.
The flight, which landed at noon at the “José Martí” International Airport, transported 189 men, 42 women and one minor, according to the Cuban government in a statement. official statement.
With this new repatriation, there are now 1,376 migrants returned to Cuba during 2025 from various countries in the region, in a total of 38 return operations.
As on previous occasions, three of those deported in this operation were transferred directly to the police investigation body for being “alleged perpetrators of criminal acts before leaving the country,” although the authorities did not reveal their identities or the nature of the alleged crimes.
The deportations occur within the framework of bilateral migration agreements between Cuba and the United States, after one of the most pronounced exoduses in recent Cuban history.
During fiscal year 2024, 217,615 Cubans arrived in the United States, bringing the number accumulated in the last four years to more than 860,000.
According to US immigration authorities, last December more than 42,000 Cubans remained in the United States with deportation orders.
In their statement, the Cuban authorities reiterated their “commitment to regular, safe and orderly migration” and once again warned about “the danger and life-threatening conditions represented by illegal departures from the country.”
During 2024, 93 return operations were recorded from the United States and other countries in the region, with a total of 1,384 irregular migrants returned, a figure practically equal in the first eleven months of 2025.
