The MININT reported that, with the operations carried out in 2025, “there are 52 returns in total from different nations in the region.”
MIAMI, United States. – Cuba received this Thursday 139 irregular migrants returned by the United States authorities, on a flight that landed at the “José Martí” International Airport in Havana, as part of the bilateral migration agreements in force between both countries. according to the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) of the Cuban regime.
According to that source, the returned group was made up of 139 people (109 men and 30 women). During the flight reception process, “a person was detained for being on parole at the time of illegally leaving the country,” indicates the same official note, without offering more details about his identity or the reason why he was under that regime.
The MININT also reported that, with the operations carried out in 2025, “there are 52 returns in total from different nations in the region (…), with 1,535 people.” The institution did not break down how many of these returns correspond to the United States or other countries, nor did it specify the dates or characteristics of the previous flights or transfers.
In their statement, the Cuban authorities reiterated the official line regarding immigration policy. The MININT affirmed that Cuba maintains its “commitment to regular, safe and orderly migration” and once again underlined “the danger and life-threatening conditions that illegal departures from the country represent.” The note did not mention the causes of the migration or offer comparative data with previous years.
The official note from the MININT is limited to describing the arrival of the flight, the composition of the returned group, the detention of a person upon arrival and the accumulation of returns in 2025. There is no reference to the routes used by the migrants, the state in which they returned, their legal situation after return or possible judicial processes, beyond the specific case of the person detained for violating the conditions of their conditional release.
Deportation flights from the United States to Cuba have been suspended since 2020 and resumed in April 2023, amid increasing migratory pressure on the southern US border.
After the cancellation of program parole humanitarian Implemented in 2023 by the Biden Administration—which had contributed to reducing the flow of Cuban rafters—the Donald Trump Government resumed a more restrictive approach, with the resumption of deportation flights and the application of more severe measures against irregular migration.
The persistent economic crisis in Cuba, marked by shortages of food and medicine, inflation, lack of fuel and prolonged blackouts, continues to push tens of thousands of people to try to leave the Island through irregular routes.
