When Cuban deportees return fromthe US to the Island, they are taunted by the immigration authorities at José Martí airport
14ymedio, Havana, August 30, 2024 — “I’m happy about everything you’ve been through,” blurted out a José Martí International Airport officer to Vivian Limonta, one of the 48 Cubans deported by the U.S. last Wednesday. The mother of a hyperactive child with attention deficit, not even her marriage to an American saved her from forced return. The authorities of the Island, to rub salt in the wound, added: “See how bad that country is, look: they bring you like dogs.”
Limonta was a beneficiary of the Migrant Protection Protocols that Washington initiated in 2019. However, due to a setback, she could not attend the appointment scheduled in the Court in 2020, so she was given the probation form I-220B, for which they have deported dozens of Cubans. Her words, interviewed this Thursday by Univision, attest to the effect that deportation had on her: “I’m devastated. I’m speechless.”
Limonta had been detained since last July at the Broward Migrant Detention Center of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE). The appeals filed by her lawyer were dismissed. The evidence of the distance between her and her family on the Island, who consider her “counterrevolutionary” for publishing statements on social networks critical of the regime, were not mitigating. Her son and her husband were left behind.
“I never thought that the United States Government would separate me from my son like this and deport me,” she lamented.
Limonta’s husband, Osmani Pérez – who has lived in the United States for 31 years – tells how his wife “collapsed emotionally” after her arrest. He feels “disappointed” by the resolution of the case, because he assumed that Washington would defend the family unit above all else.
In an attempt to stop Limonta’s deportation, her husband went to the office of Congressman Carlos Giménez, who pointed out in a statement that his office fights tirelessly for the rights of all residents “despite the bad decisions of this Administration (of Joe Biden), including those of admitting Castro repressors to our country while punishing victims, as in this case.”
In this “fight” to avoid being returned to Cuba are Olga Díaz, 84 years old, and her daughter Nilda Cordero, who arrived in Florida the last week of August along with 19 other rafters. All migrants were given a deportation order.
Díaz was allowed to stay with her family until the situation is resolved, but her daughter is detained in Broward. “We arrived with the hope of a new life, but now I’m here without my daughter and that hurts me deeply,” the elderly woman told Telemundo 51.
In this “fight” to avoid being returned to Cuba are Olga Díaz, 84 years old, and her daughter Nilda Cordero, who arrived in Florida along with 19 other rafters
Immigration lawyer Eduardo Soto, who took over the case, explained that the situation “is complicated,” although they hope that “justice will prevail” and that both women will be able to remain in the United States.
The governments of Havana and Washington have a bilateral agreement so that all migrants arriving by sea to US territory are returned to Cuba.
Since June 5, stricter measures against irregular migration have come into force. Among them, that rafters could “face criminal charges,” in addition to the usual measures. “They will not be eligible to apply for asylum,” and they will be “prohibited” from entering US territory for at least five years, according to the US Embassy in Havana.
Between January and August 29, Cuba has received 1,046 deportees from different countries. The most recent return was that by Bahamian authorities of 16 rafters (9 men, 4 women and 3 minors) from Villa Clara.
In April 2023, deportation flights resumed, mainly for people considered “inadmissible” after being held on the US border with Mexico.
According to a recent report by US Customs and Border Protection, in June 17,563 Cubans arrived in the United States, the lowest figure during a calendar month of the current fiscal year 2024 that began last October.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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