The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of the United States released an official statement this Tuesday highlighting 20 cases of foreign criminals deported to third countries because their countries of origin refused to accept them.
Among these cases, six are Cuban citizens with convictions for crimes ranging from first-degree murder to drug trafficking and kidnapping.
The Trump Administration attempts to justify its deportations to third countries, as criticism of this policy grows and an analysis from the Migration Policy Institute indicates that approximately 80% of individuals deported under current U.S. policies had no criminal records.
The Cuban regime has historically maintained a policy of selective rejection regarding the readmission of its citizens deported from the United States, particularly those with serious criminal records or who left the island before the migration agreements of January 2017.
This refusal has forced Washington to enter into agreements with third countries —including South Sudan, Eswatini, Liberia, and Equatorial Guinea— to carry out the deportation orders.
The six Cubans identified in the statement are José Manuel Rodríguez-Quiñones, Enrique Arias Hierro, Roberto Mosquera-Del Peral, Jhanmay Molina Pérez, Yosmel Luis Palomino Galán, and Eugenio Douquesne-Millet.
Rodríguez-Quiñones has accumulated convictions for first-degree murder with a weapon, cocaine trafficking, and arson in Florida. Arias Hierro was convicted of attempted murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, and impersonating an officer, also in Florida. Both were sent to South Sudan in May 2025.
Mosquera-Del Peral, a member of the Latin Kings gang, was deported to Eswatini in July 2025 after being convicted of first-degree premeditated murder and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer in Florida.
Molina Pérez has a conviction for homicide in California. Palomino Galán was sentenced for two counts of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon in Florida. Douquesne-Millet has convictions for second-degree murder, two counts of cocaine trafficking, and conspiracy to traffic the same substance in North Carolina, in addition to nine counts of burglary in Florida. The three were deported in August 2025.
The DHS Secretary, Markwayne Mullin, defended the deportation agreements with third countries with a direct message: "Thanks to these agreements, we have been able to deport some of the worst illegal foreign criminals from the United States, including those so barbaric that even their own countries do not want them back, such as murderers, pedophiles, rapists, and drug traffickers."
Mullin also warned that the era of evading deportation due to lack of destination is over: "For too long, illegal foreigners with removal orders avoided deportation simply because DHS had nowhere to send them. With legal deportations to third countries, those days are over."
The policy was formalized in March 2025 and supported later that year by the Supreme Court of the United States. The statement released this Tuesday is part of the periodic "Worst of the Worst" campaign by the Trump administration, which has been regularly publishing lists of immigrants with criminal records who have been arrested or expelled since January 2025.
The figures illustrate the magnitude of the problem: between January 2025 and March 2026, the United States deported 18,453 individuals to third countries, of which 4,353 were Cuban, the largest national group.
The regime accepted in February 2026 a flight for direct deportation of individuals convicted of serious crimes, but it continues a case-by-case review that still leaves thousands without a destination on the island. More than 42,000 Cubans have active final deportation orders in the United States, making Cuba one of the countries with the highest number of nationals in this situation.
Las deportaciones a terceros países y las tensiones con Cuba en materia migratoria son parte de un panorama que sigue evolucionando. Sigue todos los detalles en nuestra sección de
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