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A total of 128 irregular Cuban migrants were deported on December 18 from the United States to Cuba, on a flight that arrived at José Martí International Airport in Havana, according to the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) via its official page on Facebook.
According to the official statement, the group was made up of 106 men, 21 women, and one minor, and their return was carried out "in compliance with the existing bilateral migration agreements" between the two countries.
Authorities also specified that one of the returned individuals was detained, as they were on probation at the time they illegally left the national territory.
With this flight, the total number of Cuban migrant repatriations from various countries in the region has reached 53 in 2025, with a total of 1,663 individuals returned to the island.
The MININT added that for the morning of this Friday, the return of another six migrants is scheduled, who were intercepted at sea after attempting to leave the country illegally by sea. If this return occurs, the total number of repatriated Cubans would rise to 1,669.
In their statement, Cuban authorities reiterated their official position in favor of "regular, safe, and orderly" migration, and once again warned about the risks that, they emphasize, accompany illegal departures from the country, both by sea and through other means.
The text emphasizes that these journeys pose a danger to the lives of those who undertake them.
So far, no additional details have been provided regarding the conditions in which the migrants find themselves after their arrival or about their immediate destination within the country, aside from the detention of the citizen who violated the terms of his parole.
Returns from U.S. territory are part of a mechanism that has remained active in recent years, even amid political tensions, and is governed by migration agreements signed between both governments.
On November 20, the United States deported 139 Cuban immigrants, on the eleventh flight chartered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to Havana in 2025, and the second one carried out that month.
The group of migrants consisted of 109 men and 30 women.
After the arrival of the flight, the authorities detained a person who was on parole at the time of their departure from the country.
On November 6, the administration of President Donald Trump set a record by deporting 232 Cuban citizens, in the largest operation since the resumption of ICE deportation flights in 2023.
Trump is the president who has deported the most Cubans in the history of the United States since the resumption of air deportations.
According to figures from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) cited by Café Fuerte, by November, Trump had amassed 4,755 deportations of Cuban citizens, a figure well above that of his predecessors:
Joe Biden: 978
Barack Obama: 341
George W. Bush: 416
With the flight on Thursday, December 18, the number of irregular migrants returned to Cuba reaches 4,883, in 12 deportation flights coordinated with the regime in Havana.
Additionally, Cubans whose entry is denied by the regime are being deported to third countries, a practice that has increased under the strictest immigration policy in decades.
This constitutes a clear sign of the tightening of U.S. immigration policy under Trump's leadership, with an escalation of arrests and mass expulsions of undocumented immigrants, many of whom have criminal records.
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