In the last four years, more than 860,000 Cuban migrants entered the United States, the largest migration in the Island’s recent history.
14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 13 March 2025 — The Cuban government “is open to assimilating the return” of its citizens in the United States irregularly, but “within the agreed terms” in bilateral migration matters, official media reported on Thursday.
“It seems absurd and unfair to us that the United States threatens to massively deport this large number of Cubans, especially when there are migration agreements that have worked well in the past,” said Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, in statements to state television collected by the state media Cubadebate.
Both countries maintain immigration agreements that include the commitment by the US to issue a minimum of 20,000 visas per year for Cubans and to return Cubans intercepted at sea.
In November 2023, they agreed to resume deportation flights for “inadmissible” Cuban migrants detained at the border with Mexico.
“It seems absurd and unfair to us that the United States threatens to massively deport this large number of Cubans”
The increase in deportations from US territory occurs in a context of greater migration controls and a stricter policy by Washington, in an attempt to stop the flow of migrants arriving at the southern border.
At the end of February, the United States Government resumed deportation flights to Cuba, in an operation that was the second of its kind since the arrival of Republican Donald Trump to the presidency this January. In total, 104 irregular migrants, 84 men, 19 women and a minor were repatriated.
According to data from the Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), during the fiscal year 2024, which ended on September 30, a total of 217,615 Cubans entered the United States.
In October 2024, the first month of fiscal year 2025, US border authorities registered the arrival of 8,261 Cubans. In the last four years, more than 860,000 Cuban migrants entered the United States, the largest migration in the Island’s recent history.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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