MIAMI, United States. – On February 9, the Cuban Government accepted 170 citizens deported from the United States in the first repatriation flight of 2026including individuals with felony convictions, as reported on social networks the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The agency itself indicated that, although these flights have existed for a long time, Havana had been “reluctant to accept massive deportation flights from the United States,” but that under the current US administration these repatriations are occurring “in record numbers.”
ICE specified that on this, the first flight to Cuba of 2026, it expelled “murderers, kidnappers, rapists, drug traffickers and other criminals.” Among the cases mentioned, he pointed to Yondeivis Wong Den-Hernandez, who was convicted of second-degree murder in Florida and aiding and abetting the unlawful entry of an alien into Texas.
ICE DEPORTED 170 CUBAN CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIENS TO CUBA FEB. 9.
A plane full of sports from Cuba headed home to the Caribbean Feb. 9 on the first ICE Air flight destined for the Republic of Cuba in 2026.
Although deportation flights to Cuba have existed for some time, the…
— US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (@ICEgov) February 18, 2026
The agency also mentioned Raul Duquenzne-Batista, whom it indicated that, in addition to convictions in Kansas, he served 20 years in prison in Cuba for robbery and burglary.
On the list released by ICE there are other names linked to crimes such as “trafficking in controlled substances”, “grand theft”, “rape”, “conspiracy to commit kidnapping”, “conspiracy to distribute cocaine”, “possession of a firearm by a convicted person”, “use of a firearm during a drug trafficking crime” and “aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon”, among other charges.
The aircraft with the 170 deportees landed at the José Martí International Airport in Havana, according to the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) in an official note cited by Cubadebate. According to the report, the group was made up of 153 men and 17 women.
The Cuban authorities indicated that three of the returned people were transferred to the corresponding investigation bodies for alleged criminal acts committed before leaving the national territory. No additional details were offered about the nature of these processes or the current legal situation of those involved.
In recent years, deportation flights between both countries experienced interruptions and resumptions depending on the political and migration context. Operations were suspended in 2020 and resumed in April 2023, mainly for people detained at the southern border of the United States.
