Deportation flights to Cuba: How many Cuban citizens have been returned so far in 2024?
The United States returns nearly 50 migrants to Cuba on deportation flights, and more than a thousand Cubans have been returned.
The Cuban Interior Ministry has reported that 48 migrants, including 43 men and five women, were deported on a flight from the United States.
Last Friday, 41 undocumented Cuban immigrants were returned by the United States Coast Guard (USCG). On the other hand, official media, cited by EFE, reported that 1,030 Cubans have been returned from various countries so far in 2024.
Cuban immigrants entering the United States will decline in 2024
According to data shared by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Cuban encounters at the border have decreased since December of last year, with a slight increase in May of this year.
In December 2023, 25,048 encounters with undocumented Cuban immigrants were recorded nationwide, which includes encounters on the northern and southern border. Subsequently, in January of this year, encounters fell to 22,942.
By April, the recorded encounters were 17,874. In May, they increased to 18,984. In the two months since, encounters with Cubans have fallen. In June, there were 17,561 and in July, 15,645, registering their lowest level so far this year.
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So far in 2024, the total number of national encounters with undocumented Cuban immigrants has been 115,773, while so far in fiscal year 2024 there have been 178,957, this includes from October of last year to July of this year.
In fiscal year 2023, the total number of encounters with Cuban immigrants with unregulated legal status was 200,287. In the past fiscal year, the month that recorded the lowest numbers was February, with 6,534 domestic encounters.
CBP reports a decrease in encounters with migrants
In terms of total encounters, in the July encounter report, CBP noted that statistics showed a significant decrease in encounters with migrants.
This decrease is related to a Presidential Executive Order, which was issued on June 4, 2024 by President Biden, which has temporarily suspended the entry of certain non-citizens across the southern border.
“U.S. Border Patrol encounters in July were 32% lower than in June 2024 and were the lowest monthly total along the southwest border since September 2020. July totals among ports of entry are also lower than in July 2019 and lower than the monthly average for all of 2019, the last comparable year before the pandemic,” CBP shared.