The Biden administration will begin deporting Cubans who crossed into the United States illegally back to their country, two U.S. immigration officials told NBC.
Reportedly, the U.S. will send the immigrants back in droves on airplanes in the coming weeks. Currently, ICE is locating Cubans with orders of deportation. Cuba previously refused to accept its own citizens back who illegally entered the U.S. Reuters reported Friday that Cuba finally agreed to accept the deportation flights:
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has about a dozen Cubans in custody who failed an initial screening for asylum at the border, the officials said, requesting anonymity to discuss the diplomatic situation. The U.S. agency is waiting until it has enough Cuban deportees to fill a plane before sending one to Havana, they said.
The U.S. Coast Guard has turned around thousands of Cuban migrants caught at sea and sent them back to their home country, Reuters added.
According to NBC, the last deportation flights from the U.S. to Cuba left on Dec. 29 2020. More than 248,000 Cubans were reportedly apprehended crossing the U.S.-Mexico border over the past year, compared to 43,677 the year before.
NBC reported earlier this year that the number of Cubans crossing the U.S.-Mexico border outpaced those arriving from Central America. Senior officials from DHS told the outlet that they were “largely unable” to deport them because their government refused to take them back.
Since Oct. 1, Coast Guard intercepted over 1,300 Cubans trying to board “rickety” boats, the Miami Herald reported.
This week, Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) sent 28 migrants on a bus to Philadelphia, a “sanctuary city,” to share the burden of the open border crisis. Reportedly, some of the migrants came from Cuba, as well as Colombia and Dominican Republic. Many of the migrants said that Philadelphia was not their final destination and were headed for New Jersey and Ohio.