Immigration officials deport 120 Cubans to Havana, the largest group in recent years

A group of 120 Cubans was deported from the United States to Havana, Cuba on Friday, August 30, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Police (ICE) said in a statement.

The repatriation operation was carried out in accordance with agreements signed by the governments of the two countries in January 2017.

The deportees, the statement said, were taken to Havana on a chartered ICE flight, which traveled from New Orleans to Havana.

In the statement, US authorities refer to the importance of this deportation, since the position of “Cuba with respect to accepting the return of Cuban citizens who were ordered to be expelled from the United States has been known for many years,” complying with the key provisions of the United States and Cuba Joint Declaration of January 12, 2017. Cuba has a long history of being considered a “non-cooperative” country, using the Removal Cooperation Initiative Tool (RCI)”, says the note.

With the charter flight’s high number of removals, ERO Miami Field Office contributed ten Special Response Team (SRT) operators to ensure adequat security onboard the flight.

Of the 120 Cubans sent back to the Island, 39 were Failure to Comply (FTC) subjects who previously resisted removal attempts, who had previously resisted repatriation attempts, the statement said. One of the individuals who were on the flight was particularly an aggravated criminal who had convictions for kidnapping in the first degree with the use of a deadly weapon, sexual assault with the use of a deadly weapon and trafficking of controlled substances, crimes for which he obtained sentences of 15 years, 25 years and 12 months in prison.

With the charter flight’s high number of Cubans deported on the charter flight, ERO Miami Field Office contributed with ten Special Response Team (SRT) members to ensure adequate mission security onboard the flight to Havana.

“The successful execution of this removal operation to Cuba illustrates ERO Headquarters’ ability to seamlessly coordinate with both ERO Field Offices as well as our international law enforcement partners to effect ERO’s removal mission to even the most diplomatically challenging countries, ”said the statement.