HAVANA, Jan 12 (NNN-ACN) — The US Coast Guard Service returned 20 irregular Cuban migrants to the island through the Orozco harbor in the western province of Artemisa, the Cuban Interior Ministry announced.
The group of irregulars included 9 men, 7 women and 4 children—most of them from Havana– who made the illegal departure attempt.
Two of those involved in the failed attempt were submitted to investigation processes after having committed crimes before leaving Cuba.
This is the first return operation from the US this year. A previous similar action took place from the Bahamas which involved 19 irregulars brought back to Cuba by plane.
Cuban authorities keep their firm commitment to a safe and orderly migration and reiterate their alert about the danger entailed by illegal departures from the island.
The Governments of Havana and Washington have a bilateral agreement so that all migrants arriving by sea to US territory are returned to Cuba.
In addition, deportation flights resumed in April 2023, mainly for people considered “inadmissible” after being detained on the US border with Mexico.
In Mexico, eight Cuban rafters who were rescued last week by sailors are at the headquarters of the National Institute of Migration (INM), where they have requested advice to prevent them from being deported to the Island. The migrants, a woman and seven men, were found by the crew of the ship Catherine-Grace on a drifting raft 198 nautical miles north of Puerto Progreso.
According to data from the US Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP), during the 2024 fiscal period, which ended on September 30, 217,615 Cubans arrived in the United States.
A total of 8,261 Cubans were registered by US border authorities last October, the first month of fiscal year 2025, and according to CBP, more than 860,000 Cuban migrants entered US territory in the last four years.
In 2024, 93 returns were made from different countries in the region, with a total of 1,384 irregular migrants returned. — NNN-ACN
