Two Cuban citizens with extensive criminal records are said to have been deported by U.S. immigration authorities on a controversial repatriation flight that stopped in South Sudan.
The operation, organized by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), involved eight foreign nationals convicted of serious crimes, including murders, sexual assaults, and kidnappings.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the deported Cubans were identified as Enrique Arias-Hierro and José Manuel Rodríguez-Quiñones.
The first, arrested on May 2, 2025, had been convicted of homicide, armed robbery, identity theft, kidnapping, and other crimes. The second was detained on April 30 and had prior convictions for first-degree attempted murder with a weapon, assault, theft, and trafficking in canine animals.
In a press conference, the acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons, justified the deportation by stating that these individuals “represent real threats to national security and dangers to public safety.”
He detailed that some of the deportees had already served lengthy sentences but were released under supervision because their home countries refused to accept them.
"We had to find a third country to return them and eliminate this threat. I have dealt with these recalcitrant countries for years. However, with President Trump and under the direction of Secretary Noem, we can now prevent these predators from continuing to have victims in the United States," Lyons stated.
Although the flight departed from Texas headed to South Sudan, it is unclear if that will be the final relocation destination. Of the eight passengers, only one was originally from that African country; the rest were from Cuba, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Mexico.
A federal judge in Boston has ordered that the deportees remain in custody while the legality of the flight is evaluated and whether it violated a previous court order.
Deportations to third countries and judicial tensions in the U.S.
The deportation of Cuban citizens to South Sudan is part of a broader strategy by the Trump administration, which has sought to relocate immigrants to third countries when their countries of origin do not cooperate with repatriations.
El Salvador has been one of the main destinations for this type of agreements. In January 2025, Trump negotiated with the Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele, a pact to accept immigrants from other nationalities, including dangerous criminals, as part of a "Safe Third Country" agreement.
This approach has generated legal and political controversies. In April 2025, a federal judge initiated a process to hold the Trump administration in contempt for ignoring an order that prohibited the deportation of more than 200 migrants, mostly Venezuelans, to a mega-prison in El Salvador.
Additionally, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the block on deportations under the Foreign Enemies Act, used by the administration to justify expedited expulsions without due process.
These actions have intensified the tensions between the judicial and executive branches in the United States, raising concerns about human rights and respect for due process in current immigration policies.
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