Another 193 people were returned by Washington to Venezuela, including eleven children.
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 31 May 2025 — Cuba received on Friday 130 irregular migrants deported by the United States by air in the fifth operation of this type carried out since the second term of President Donald Trump began, on January 20 of this year. The return of 106 men and 24 women was carried out “in accordance with bilateral migration agreements” between the governments of Havana and Washington, according to a note from the Ministry of the Interior, which has been published in official media.
Among the returnees are five who “were transferred to the investigative body because they were on probation at the time they illegally left the country,” says the report. With this new operation, 19 people have been returned from different countries in the region so far in 2025, with a total of 587 people.
The Cuban authorities stressed that they remain “firm” in their commitment to “regular, safe and orderly” migration and reiterated the danger and life-threatening conditions that illegal departures from the country by sea represent.
The governments of Havana and Washington have a bilateral agreement that all migrants arriving by sea to US territory be deported to the island. Also, the deportation flights that were suspended since 2020 were resumed at the end of April 2023, mainly for Cubans considered “inadmissible” after being held on the border with Mexico.
Havana and Washington have an agreement that all migrants arriving by sea to the US territory be deported to the Island
According to data from the US Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP), during the fiscal period 2024, which ended on 30 September 2017, 217,615 Cubans arrived in the United States. In addition, a total of 8,261 Cubans were registered by the US border authorities last October, the first month of fiscal year 2025. The border agency added that more than 860,000 migrants from the island entered the territory of the US in the last four years.
In 2024, 93 returns were made from different countries in the region, with a total of 1,384 irregular migrants returning to Cuba, according to official sources.
Another 193 Venezuelan migrants deported by the United States arrived in their country on Friday, according to the Ministry of the Interior and Justice, which added that 11 minors arrived in the group. Through a post on Instagram, the ministry indicated that the Venezuelans came from Texas. “On this occasion 153 men, 29 women and 11 children returned to their country,” it added.
The ministry stated that the returning migrants were cared for by “the different organs of the Venezuelan state with the corresponding protocols on legal security, identification and health, among others.”
According to official figures, counting these 193 migrants, there are already 5,396 Venezuelans who have returned to the country, the vast majority deported by the Trump administration since last February, after an agreement signed in January by Caracas and Washington, which have been without relations since 2019.
On Thursday, a plane from the state-owned Conviasa, coming from Mexico, landed at Maiquetía Simón Bolívar International Airport in Caracas with 315 repatriated migrants, according to the Ministry of Interior and Justice. The institution noted, through Instagram, that of the total number of migrants, 146 were minors and 169 were adults.
This Friday, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of allowing the Trump administration to withdraw the temporary legal protection granted by the previous Biden administration to 532,000 migrants from Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti. The US Supreme Court has granted the emergency request by the Department of Homeland Security with a vote of seven judges in favor and two against: Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, both Democratic appointees.
The Trump administration was trying to challenge a ruling by a federal judge — which is now without effect — of the state of Massachusetts, who considered that the government could not overturn humanitarian parole, which allowed beneficiaries to live and work temporarily in the US, without analyzing the procedure on a case-by-case basis.
Today’s is the second ruling by the Supreme Court this year in this area, after it authorized Trump 10 days ago to withdraw Temporary Protection Status (TPS) from some 350,000 Venezuelan migrants.
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
