US deported 117 Cuban migrants since policy shift

A supporter holds up a placard during a rally for Jeanette Vizguerra, a Mexican woman seeking to avoid deportation from the United States, outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017, in Centennial, Colo. U.S. immigration authorities have denied Vizguerra’s request to remain in the country. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Cuba on Friday said the United States had deported 117 migrants back to the island nation since ending its policy granting automatic residency to almost every Cuban who reached U.S. soil as part of the normalisation of relations. Those deported included two people who were returned on Friday on the first flight chartered specifically for the deportation of Cuban migrants since the policy shift, Cuba’s ruling Communist Party newspaper Granma wrote. The earlier deportees were taken back on commercial planes or boat.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama repealed the special immigration policy for Cubans days before turning the White House over to Donald Trump. Cuban authorities had long sought its end, arguing that the promise of U.S. residency was fueling people-trafficking and encouraging dangerous journeys. The move however dashed the hopes of many who had been hoping to fulfill their American Dream and left hundreds of Cubans seeking a new life stranded halfway on their journey.

Since the policy shift, more than 680 Cuban “irregular migrants” have been deported in total from various countries, Granma wrote, including more than 400 from Mexico, 117 from the Bahamas and 39 from the Cayman Islands.