A total of 170 Cuban migrants were returned to the island from the United States on Monday, February 9, in the first deportation flight of 2026, according to the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) via its official profile on social media.
The operation was carried out in accordance with bilateral migration agreements and had the José Martí International Airport in Havana as its destination.
According to the official statement, among those deported were 153 men and 17 women. Authorities specified that three of these individuals were transferred to investigative bodies as they were considered potential suspects in criminal activities committed before leaving the country.
As usual, the regime reiterated its message about “regular, safe, and orderly” migration and warned again about the “risks to life” that it claims are posed by illegal departures.
This flight marks the resumption of deportations after a January without air operations, and occurs following the most recent return recorded on December 18, 2025, when 128 Cubans were sent back to the island from the U.S.
At that time, official figures indicated that during the year there had been 53 repatriations from various countries in the region, with 1,663 Cubans returned.
According to figures from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) cited by Café Fuerte, the Donald Trump administration has deported 1,498 Cubans since January on 12 flights, bringing the total number of expelled Cuban citizens during his terms to 4,883, a historic record that far exceeds those recorded under Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and George W. Bush. The tightening of immigration policy has also included the deportation of Cubans to third countries when the regime refuses to accept them.
The return of these migrants comes at a particularly critical moment for Cuba, amid a rise in tensions with Washington.
At the end of January, Trump declared a national emergency, labeled Cuba as a threat to the security and foreign policy of the United States, and once again described the island as a “failed state”, while his administration moves forward with a policy of maximum economic and diplomatic pressure against the regime of Miguel Díaz-Canel.
Within the country, the outlook is bleak. The lack of oil, power outages lasting over 20 hours in some areas, the collapse of transportation, the scarcity of food and medicine, and the official acknowledgment of a return to the conditions of the Special Period outline the context in which these 170 Cubans are returning to Cuban soil.
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