MIAMI, United States. – Dozens of Cuban migrants with deportation orders, who remained detained in a center of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE), were released this Thursday, according to the media. voice of america.
At the end of November, ICE posted by mistake on its website a list with more than 6,000 identities, nationalities and detention centers, corresponding to migrants who requested asylum in the United States due to alleged persecution in their countries of origin.
In accordance with voice of americain December some names of possible deportees came to the knowledge of Havana officials, based on data leaks, an argument that was used by the defense of migrants in order to obtain their release.
According to the newspaper los angeles timesat the beginning of December a National Security official, when communicating with the Cuban regime about the deportation flights to the country —which recently resumed after a pause of several years—, indicated “inadvertently” that some of the 103 Cubans placed in one flight had been affected by the data dump in late November.
The source to which the US media had access indicated that of the 103 Cubans facing deportation, 46 were affected by the leak.
For their part, the Cubans detained and released this Thursday celebrated the decision. Upon leaving the detention center, one of the Cuban migrants, Ricardo Acosta Chirinos, told the outlet that he felt “great joy.”
For his part, Ismael Apiza assured that he preferred “to die before returning to Cuba.”
For 70 days, relatives of those released had been protesting in front of this detention center located in Broward County, north of Miami.
“We were all looking forward to today because honestly there is no human being in life who deserves to be deprived of their freedom,” he told voice of america the relative of a released migrant.
Despite the release this Thursday, at least another 30 Cubans, in similar conditions, remain detained in federal facilities in Texas.
Receive information from CubaNet on your cell phone through WhatsApp. Send us a message with the word “CUBA” on the phone +525545038831, You can also subscribe to our electronic newsletter by giving click here.
