Cuba accepts extradition flights from the United States as border crossings increase

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has detained about a dozen Cubans who failed an initial screening for asylum at the border, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the diplomatic situation. The U.S. company is waiting until there are enough Cuban exiles to fill a plane before sending one to Havana, they said.

A third source familiar with the matter said there is no new formal agreement for regular deportation flights, but Cuba has agreed to accept occasional groups of deportees.

Routine deportations of Cubans were halted during the COVID-19 pandemic, although the United States continued to deport a small number of Cubans via commercial flights, another US official told Reuters.

The US State Department, the White House and ICE did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

According to data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, about 1,500 Cubans were removed in fiscal year 2020, which began on Oct. 1, 2019, the year regular deportation flights were suspended.

The resumption of ICE deportation flights to Cuba could be a symbolic message to migrants who normally fly to Central America and head north to the border. In fiscal year 2022, which ended on September 30, 220,000 Cubans were detained at the US-Mexico border. Most were released in the United States to pursue immigration cases.

Communist-ruled Cuba is required by previous migration treaties to accept its nationals repatriated by the United States. The most recent bilateral agreement was signed in January 2017, shortly before then-President Barack Obama left office.

The U.S. Coast Guard continues to rescue migrants stranded at sea and has repatriated more than 5,600 migrants so far this year, according to official Cuban media.

Top U.S. immigration officials visited Havana this week — the highest-profile visit to the U.S. since the historic reconciliation under former President Obama — as the migration crisis deepens.

U.S. authorities have apprehended more than 2.2 million migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2022, more than ever before. Of those, about 1 million were soon deported to Mexico or other countries under a pandemic-era order known as Title 42. But only 2 percent of Cubans detained at the border were deported in fiscal year 2022.