An airplane with 118 Cuban irregular migrants Deported by the United States arrived in Havana on Thursday in the seventh operation of this type carried out since the beginning of Donald Trump’s second term, who have the deportation of undocumented among their priorities.
The migrants returned-96 men and 22 women–returned to the island “in correspondence with the bilateral migratory agreements” signed between the governments of Havana and Washington, he stressed A note of the Interior Ministry (Minint).
Three of the returned persons remain under detention and investigation by the authorities “for being as alleged commissioners of criminal acts before leaving the country,” according to the report.
So far from 2025, Cuba has received 27 deportation flights made from different countries in the region, seven of them from the United States. In total, 833 people have been repatriated to Cuba in these operations, according to what is published.
In his note, the Minint reiterated the commitment of the Cuban government “with a regular, safe and orderly migration”, while reiterating “the danger and conditions of life risk that represent the illegal exits of the country.”
Deportation flights since 2023
Since 2023, after a pause that extended for three years, the US resumed deportation flights to Cuba, especially from Cuban migrants considered “inadmissible”, that is, people usually arrested on the border with Mexico and who do not meet the requirements to legally enter the North American country.
These flights are framed in a bilateral immigration agreement that establishes the deportation of all Cuban immigrants trying to enter American territory by sea.
According to official figures from the Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) of the United States corresponding to fiscal period 2024, a total record of 217 615 Cubans arrived in the United States, with more than 860,000 migrants from the island that would have entered the US territory in the last four years.
However, in recent months the arrival of irregular Cubans to the United States has fallen significantly, while the Trump administration carries out an aggressive anti -immigrant agenda that threatens those who entered through legal programs such as humanitarian parole.
In 2024 a total of 93 returns were made from various countries in the region, which added 1384 Cuban migrants returned to the island, figures that show an ascending trend in deportations.
One in four Cubans is already more than 60 years old, in part for the migration of young people
The massive migratory exodus of Cuba is the result of the deep economic crisis facing the country, characterized by food, medicines and fuel, severe electricity cuts, uncontrolled inflation and a partial dollarization of the economy that moves rapidly in the fabric of commercial goods, both essential and sumptuous.
These conditions have led thousands of Cubans to seek a better future outside the country, often putting their lives in dangerous journeys by sea or land to the United States.
Repatriation flights, which also include people transferred by alleged crimes committed before their illegal departure from Cuba, also show the complexity of the migratory phenomenon.
EFE / ONCUBA
