Around noon this Thursday, the eighth deportation flight of Cuban migrants departed from Miami International Airport bound for the island, as reported live from the airport facility by Univision journalist Mario Vallejo.
So far, the exact number of Cubans who have been returned this November 30 on a Global X plane to Cuba has not been revealed.
However, Vallejó did specify that among those deported is Yoan Enríquez, a Cuban father of a baby girl just over three months old, who on November 13 was detained in Tampa during an appointment with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service. (ICE).
The journalist indicated that from the early hours of this Thursday the Cubans arrived in buses dressed all in white and were handcuffed and put on the aircraft.
Cuba and the United States agreed in November 2022 to resume deportation flights for migrants considered “inadmissible” by Washington. The return was initially agreed in 2017, but was suspended due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and the cooling of bilateral relations during the Donald Trump administration.
The agreement to return those classified as “inadmissible” was added to the current agreement that allows the return of all Cubans who arrive in the United States by sea.
Seven groups of migrants deported since April
The first deportation flight organized by the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the largest, returned 123 migrants on April 24.
A few days later, on May 10, the United States government sent 66 Cubans back to Cuba on the second deportation flight.
On June 22, the third group of 36 citizens was repatriated. On July 20, a total of 33 deported Cubans arrived in Havana on the fourth deportation flight from Miami.
The fifth flight took place on August 17 and 29 migrants traveled on it. The sixth from the United States landed in Havana with 35 people on board on September 29.
The seventh flight, of 27 irregular migrants, arrived in Cuba a little over a month ago on October 26.
The deportees are Cubans who had missed their credible fear interviews upon entering the country and had received an I-220B document (deportation order), although they remained free under supervision.
The deportation operations are in addition to the emergency measures applied by the Joe Biden administration to control the uncontrolled flow of Cuban immigrants across the southern border of the United States and the coasts of Florida.
Authorities have increased the arrests of immigrants with I-220B when they appear for appointments at ICE offices.
Cuba is experiencing an unprecedented wave of migration. It is estimated that in 2022 around 4 percent of the Cuban population left the country and this year’s figures could be similar according to those accumulated to date, according to the Efe news agency.
