U.S. Deportations of Cuban Residents to Mexico Spark Human Rights Concerns

Since President Donald Trump’s return to office in 2025, the United States has deported record numbers of Cuban nationals, sending them to Mexico rather than repatriating them to Cuba. Between January 2025 and March 2026, more than 4,300 Cubans were transferred, part of a broader deportation of roughly 13,000 third-country nationals to Mexico under an undisclosed bilateral agreement.

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The deportations mark a departure from prior practice, when Cuban permanent residents benefited from the Cuban Adjustment Act, which provided a fast-track path to U.S. residency and limited removals. The Trump administration’s renewed enforcement has ended most legal immigration from Cuba and expanded removal to third-country destinations, despite Cuba’s refusal to accept individuals with criminal convictions.

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Human Rights Watch interviews with 53 third-country nationals—41 of them Cuban men—reveal that most deportees are older adults; the oldest was 83, and the majority are 60 or older with chronic health conditions. Only 16 % of Cuban deportees had violent convictions; a quarter had no criminal record. Many had lost green cards after convictions, leaving them ineligible for return to Cuba.

New York Times

Deported Cubans report arriving in southern Mexican cities such as Tapachula, Chiapas, and Villahermosa, Tabasco, after 38-hour bus trips, often with no documentation, money, or belongings. Lacking legal status, they cannot work, access shelter, or obtain medical care. Some live in public parks, outside hospitals, or temporary shelters, while others remain on the streets amid cartel violence.

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch calls on the United States to honor due-process requirements of the Immigration and Nationality Act, provide individualized review, and ensure transparent transfer agreements. It urges Mexico to grant emergency shelter, health services, and a clear pathway to durable legal status, including fair asylum procedures, for those it accepts. No U.S. or Mexican official statements were provided in the sources.

Human Rights Watch

Critics argue the policy amounts to “double punishment,” with the U.S. discarding individuals and Cuba refusing repatriation. Shelter worker Josué Leal described the situation as a form of “double punishment.” Human Rights Watch characterizes the practice as using Mexico as a “dumping ground” for people the U.S. cannot deport to their home countries, violating international law.

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Sources agree on the overall scale of deportations but differ on precise figures: the New York Times cites “record numbers” without a specific total, while HRW reports 4,353 Cubans and nearly 13,000 third-country nationals. The bilateral agreement governing transfers remains undisclosed, and neither government has publicly detailed the legal framework or oversight mechanisms.

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• “The Trump administration is using Mexico as a dumping ground for people it cannot deport to their countries of origin, including many Cubans who have been in the United States for decades,” — Alcira Silva Hava, Leonard H. Sandler Fellow, Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch

• “Imagine being 60 or 70 years old, uprooted from your life overnight and sent to a country you don’t know, where authorities leave you out to dry without access to even the most basic services — shelter, healthcare. Imagine being dropped in dangerous cities with nothing but the clothes on your back,” — Alcira Hava, Leonard H. Sandler Fellow, Human Rights Watch

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• “They’re casting us aside to die,” — Harold A., 58-year-old Cuban national (pseudonym)

Human Rights Watch

• “The U.S. discards them. Cuba discards them,” — Josué Leal, shelter worker, Villahermosa

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