The U.S. will deport a Cuban to Mexico because Cuba refuses to accept him

A Cuban identified as C.R.L., who served over three years in prison in the United States for serious charges of bank fraud and money laundering, will be deported to Mexico after U.S. authorities confirmed that the island's government refuses to accept him back, reported WRBL, the television station affiliated with CBS in Columbus, Georgia.

The case, which reached the Middle District Court of Georgia, presents an alarming situation for Cuban migrants with criminal records, even after serving their sentences, as they may find themselves trapped in a legal limbo for months or years, with no country willing to receive them, confined in detention centers while their lives are consumed by uncertainty.

According to the court document dated June 30, 2025, after being released from the federal prison system, C.R.L. was placed in immigration custody with a final deportation order. However, his transfer was impossible for months because Cuba, his home country, refused to accept him.

In light of the prolonged detention, the man requested a habeas corpus petition to be released while a country that would accept him was found. The request was denied. U.S. authorities reported that Mexico agreed to take him, so arrangements will be made for his immediate deportation to that country.

The Mexican government agreed to accept him as part of broad agreements on migratory cooperation, similar to those that have allowed the reception of Nicaraguan, Haitian, and Honduran migrants from the United States.

These types of cases are not isolated. Immigration attorney Rosaly Chaviano has previously stated that Cuba is systematically rejecting individuals with criminal records, even when they have lived in the United States for years.

“We know of so many people who are in the United States, having been here for many years, who have serious crimes and yet Cuba does not want them,” he commented.

Chaviano also noted that they have detected a possible pattern: the island would be prioritizing the acceptance of younger migrants who have arrived recently.

“We have not been officially told that this is a pattern, [...] just based on what we have seen, the people who have been recently deported, the years they have entered, and their ages, is what is leading us to understand”, he explained.

These observations align with the paradox highlighted in the ruling by Judge Clay D. Land, who is overseeing the case. He acknowledged the complexity of the situation and likened it to “a case out of Alice in Wonderland”, due to the legal game of interpretations by the petitioner's lawyers.

According to the ruling, the court does not have jurisdiction to stop his deportation or to challenge the choice of the receiving country, as these decisions are exclusively the responsibility of immigration courts or the appeals circuit.

In the judge's words, the case illustrates a dilemma for the U.S. immigration system: “Someone enters illegally, commits serious crimes, cannot be returned to their country of origin because it refuses to accept them, complains about their prolonged detention, but then objects to being sent to a third country willing to accept them.”

Although the Cuban will have the right to contest their removal to Mexico through available administrative channels, the Court made it clear that their current petition has been entirely dismissed and cannot be pursued further at that level.

The case contrasts with the official statements from the Cuban regime. Last March, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Relations, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, asserted on the program Mesa Redonda that Cuba was willing to accept its citizens deported from the U.S., provided that bilateral agreements were respected.

However, cases such as that of C.R.L. —and that of the reggaeton artist Chocolate MC, despite having a deportation order since 2022— reveal a more complex reality: the Cuban government can selectively block the repatriation of certain individuals, even after they have served their sentences.