With the deportation “they took away” from Sergio Pérez “the right to be a father” and to be close to his son, says Ana Rodríguez, the aunt of the Cuban who along with 32 other people this Thursday was put on a plane at the Miami International Airport to be returned to the island, on the fourth flight expelled by the United States.
“He is a boy who has not had any problems with the law,” Rodríguez insisted to the journalist Mario Vallejo, who shared a video of the moment the Cubans were loaded onto the aircraft. “They have taken away his son Yordano (10 years old) the possibility of being close to his father,” he emphasizes.
Pérez was detained on June 9, when he appeared at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office for what he thought would be a routine appointment. Since that day, Yordano had gone to the Broward Transitional Center (BTC) every day hoping for Sergio’s freedom, which never came. The mother of this 10-year-old boy is on the Island, now he will stay with her father’s family.
The Cubans were transferred this Thursday in two trucks to the air terminal. Among them is the woman who would be the first to be deported. The journalist from Univisión 23 Miami, Javier Díaz, uploaded a video in which some relatives are observed unsuccessfully trying to stop the deportation process.
The Cubans were transferred this Thursday in two trucks to the air terminal. Among them is the woman who would be the first to be deported.
“A sad day for many families who will be separated for having come to the United States seeking freedom,” said the communicator. The 33 deported Cubans were handed over to the Cuban authorities at the José Martí International Airport.
In June 36 Cubans were deported from Miami International Airport. The US authorities warned that “they will not be able to return to the United States” in the next five years. According to a brief statement issued by the diplomatic headquarters of the North American country on the island, these migrants made “a trip in vain.”
Returns by air between Cuba and the US remained suspended since December 2020 until both countries agreed last November to resume deportation flights for “inadmissible” migrants held at the border with Mexico.
The first Cubans returned after the resumption of flights were 123 who arrived in Havana on April 24, and another group of 66 was returned in a second air operation on May 10.
Neither the increase in deportations of rafters from Miami nor the installation of barbed wire fences and buoys in the Rio Grande have prevented Cubans from entering the United States illegally. According to figures from the Customs and Border Protection (CBP), last June 10,885 natives of the Island arrived.
Since last January, the US has reinforced surveillance on the high seas to prevent the illegal landing of rafters, of whom a total of 6,862 have tried to arrive so far this fiscal year (since last October). The number of these does not decrease despite the risks of deportation that it entails.
This Tuesday the Coast Guard returned 54 people to the island. The US Embassy in Havana insisted that these migrants “will have a five-year ban” to enter their country, for which it recommended using the legal route.
Since January, the rafters who have been detained and taken into custody have received an expedited removal orderthe verdict that a judge issues for expulsion of a person but that can be reversed with legal advice.
Along the border between Mexico and the United States, the illegal crossing of Cubans through the Rio Grande also prevails. Last Saturday, the Facebook page What others shut up Piedras Negras he recorded a group of 16 migrants, among them seven natives of the Island (including minors), crossing over to the US side.
On the Mexican side, the data provided to 14ymedio by the municipal police officer of the state of Coahuila, Jacinto Martínez Juárez, point to the illegal crossings of between 2,900 and 3,400 Cubans, who have been detained by the Border Patrol and “returned through the border bridges.”
The United States has reinforced surveillance on the high seas to prevent the illegal landing of rafters, of whom a total of 6,862 have tried to arrive since last October
However, despite the fact that the CBP does not detail the exact number of arrivals of Cubans through the border strip between Mexico and the United States, it is estimated that 4,235 migrants entered illegally by land during the month of June.
Although CBP statistics herald a “collapse” of illegal crossings of up to 99,545 in June, a figure not seen since 2021, and a 42% decrease since May 2023 when 169,244 foreigners were detained, the Mexican police stress the increase in Cubans. “In the month of April 8,999 entered and in May 9,475 migrants did.” This is because the CBP One application is taking too long.
Meanwhile, in the US, the interim CBP commissioner, Troy Miller, highlighted this Monday that the decrease is due to the implementation of the measures of the Government of Joe Biden after the end of Title 42, on May 12, and the continuous application of the immigration laws stipulated in Title 8.
“Our sustained efforts to enforce our authority under Title 8, combined with expanding access to pathways and legal process, have brought the number of migrant encounters along the Southwest border to their lowest levels in more than two years,” Miller said.
In the ports of entry, a total of 45,062 migrants were processed in June, including those who had an appointment through the CBP One application, which allows them to obtain an opportunity to present their cases before the immigration authorities.
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