This is the third flight of this type since Donald Trump became president.
14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 28 March 2025 — A group of 60 illegal Cuban migrants arrived from the United States on Thursday in Havana in the third deportation operation since President Donald Trump began his second term in office in January.
This return – of 55 men and five women – took place “as part of the bilateral migration agreements” between the governments of Havana and Washington, according to official media.
With this operation, including those carried out from the US on 23 January and 27 February, there have been 13 returns to different countries in the region so far in 2025, with “a total of 367 people”.
With this operation, including those carried out from the USA on 23 January and 27 February, there have been 13 returns to different countries in the region.
Two of the persons included in this new deportation are in detention, one of them “for allegedly committing criminal acts before emigrating” and the other because “he left the country illegally while on parole”.
The authorities stress that they remain “firm” in their commitment to “regular, safe and orderly” migration, while emphasising the danger and life-threatening conditions posed by illegal departures from the country by sea.
Cuba and the US have a bilateral agreement that all migrants arriving to US territory by sea will be returned to Cuba. For the moment, nothing has changed on the return of such migrants carried out under the previous Joe Biden Democrat administration.
In April 2023, deportation flights resumed, mainly for those deemed “inadmissible” after being held at the US-Mexico border.
According to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data, 217,615 Cubans arrived in the United States during the 2024 fiscal period, ending on 30 September.
Likewise, a total of 8,261 Cubans were registered by US border authorities last October, the first month of fiscal year 2025, and, according to the CBP, in the last four years more than 860,000 migrants from the island have entered US territory.
In 2024, 93 returns were carried out to different countries in the region, with a total of 1,384 illegal migrants returned, according to official media.
In 2024, 93 returns were carried out to different countries in the region, with a total of 1,384 irregular migrants returned, according to official media.
With its severe economic crisis, Cuba is experiencing an unprecedented exodus of migrants, with food, medicine and fuel shortages, galloping inflation, frequent and prolonged power cuts and partial dollarisation of the economy.
The situation has depleted the population to such an extent that an independent demographic study by the renowned Cuban economist and demographer Juan Carlos Albizu-Campos concludes that it now stands at just over eight million people, with an accumulated drop of 24% in just four years. Specifically, there are 8,025,624, a lot less than the 9,748,532 in the figures of the National Statistics and Information Office (Onei).
Translated by GH
____________
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.
