Cuba accepts deportation flights from US of illegal immigrants
HAVANA, Nov. 12th Cuba agreed to deportation flights from the United States For Cubans held on the US border with Mexico. The commitment, the first of its kind in years, said three administration officials in Washington, which wants to have new tools to stop migration from the island.
About a dozen Cuban citizens are in custody at the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) who did not pass the initial asylum process at the border said officials, who requested anonymity.
He said ICE is waiting for enough Cuban deportees to fill a plane before sending it to Havana.
A third source familiar with the matter said no new formal agreement has been reached for regular deportation flights. But Cuba sometimes agreed to accept groups of exiles.
Routine deportations of Cubans halted during the coronavirus pandemicAlthough the United States sent a small number of flights to Cuba via commercial airlines during that period, another US official said.
The resumption of ICE deportation flights to Caribbean islands Could send a symbolic message to potential Cuban immigrants Who typically fly to Central America and then head north towards the border.
A record 220,000 Cubans were captured at the US-Mexico border in the fiscal year 2022, which ended on 30 September. The vast majority were released to continue their cases in the United States.
Cuba is bound by a previous migration agreement to accept its citizens returned by the United States. The most recent bilateral agreement was signed in January 2017, shortly before then-President Barack Obama stepped down.
Under another agreement, the United States Coast Guard Over 5,600 migrants stranded at sea have been brought home According to official Cuban media reports, so far this year.
High-ranking US officials were in Havana this week in the highest-level visit since the historic gathering under the Obama administration, a fact that comes as emigration to the island has increased significantly.
