Immigration lawyer Willy Allen described the possibility of the Trump Administration negotiating with Uruguay to send Cubans deported from the U.S. who cannot be directly repatriated to the island as a "relatively smart move." He explained this during statements made this Monday on his weekly program in CiberCuba.
According to the New York Times reported on July 29, officials from the State Department have been in discussions with the Uruguayan Foreign Ministry for months regarding such an agreement. Uruguay's Foreign Affairs confirmed an "open dialogue," but clarified that there is no finalized agreement or public figures.
Allen explained why Uruguay is not comparable to other deportation destinations: "It's not the same to be deported to Ecuador as it is to be deported to Uruguay," he noted, highlighting that the South American country has a stable democracy, a relatively strong economy, and has become "the banker of Latin America and even of Europe and the Middle East, because it is a safe place for banking."
The lawyer's central argument for labeling this option as a "smart move" is the historical connection between Uruguay and the Cuban community. "Uruguay has been a country that has welcomed tens of thousands of Cubans," he stated, recalling that for years, the Cuban migration route passed through Brazil or Ecuador before crossing into Uruguay.
That connection has specific expressions. Tania Costa mentioned that there is “a Cuban who is in the Parliament of Uruguay”. This refers to Leydis Aguilera, a Cuban engineer who has been living in the country for 16 years, and who took office as a substitute deputy of the National Party on March 10, 2026, becoming the first legislator of Cuban origin in the history of the Uruguayan Parliament.
The lawyer also warned that he has had Cuban clients whose asylum applications in the U.S. became complicated precisely because they had lived in Uruguay for two years with legal permission to work and reside there, which weakened their persecution claims.
However, Allen was clear that the negotiations are not closed. He also mentioned that including Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic in similar frameworks is being considered.
From a legal standpoint, the lawyer anticipated judicial challenges to the mechanism. "I believe that the ACA will eventually be ruled illegal in the Federal Courts. Because you are applying for asylum in the United States, and the United States must adjudicate your asylum before sending you to a third country," he asserted.
The deportation policy to third countries driven by the Trump administration has already utilized destinations such as El Salvador, South Sudan, Eswatini, Rwanda, and Nicaragua. In the case of Cuba, the difficulty of directly repatriating individuals to the island has led Washington to explore alternatives, such as the one currently being negotiated with Montevideo.
For Allen, the equation is pragmatic: "What people want is to stay in the United States. But once you can no longer stay, between going to Mexico or Ecuador or returning to Cuba, I believe that Uruguay is a good option."
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