2024-04-06 10:51:49
Foto: Shutterstock
Text: Hugo León
Almost half a million Cubans in the United States currently have pending deportation cases, indicate official sources from the northern nation.
According to the annual report of the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in 2023 the US issued six million 199 thousand 629 removal orders from the country, the highest number since 2020.
Of that high number, more than 442 thousand Cubans remain with their cases pending, and the numbers grow by month, taking into account the current migratory dynamics.
The US legal process for obtaining visas or permits means that not all such orders are final. That is, the fact that the case is pending or has begun does not mean that deportation is a fact.
According to ICE, four million 906 thousand processed cases are still pending a final order, and just over one million 290 thousand already have a final order of expulsion against them.
Cases with a final order are those that generally arrive illegally in the nation and upon completion of the process deportation has already been ordered, but pending cases still have opportunities to remain in the northern country until their situation is clarified. or a final administrative order is issued.
Cuba is the sixth nation of origin for the most files of people not detained after entering the United States, with more than 442,600 cases. The list is headed by Honduras and Guatemala with almost 900 thousand each, and Mexico with more than 774 thousand cases.
Meanwhile, the number of immigration files pending resolution grew by just over 30 percent between the fiscal years of 2022 and 2023, an example of the immigration crisis that impacts the region, with more and more migrants to process daily.
In addition to all of these, there are also delays in making deportation orders effective, according to northern authorities. In 2023, for example, some 5,200 people were returned to Cuba, mostly from the United States, although tens of thousands have traveled and entered neighboring nations illegally.