Cuba calls Trump proposal for mass deportation of immigrants unrealistic.

A Trump administration proposal to deport mass numbers of immigrants living in the US illegally, presumably including some Cubans, is unrealistic and unfair, Cuba’s deputy foreign minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio told reporters on Wednesday.

De Cossio, who made the comments after routine migration talks in Havana with counterparts from the Biden administration, said any such deportation proposal would need to be vetted within the bounds of existing agreements on migration between the US and Cuba.

“In that context, it’s not realistic to think there could be mass deportations from the US to Cuba,” de Cossio said.

Trump recaptured the White House, vowing a vast immigration crackdown, including a promise to deport record numbers of immigrants, an operation Trump’s running mate JD Vance estimated could remove 1-million people per year.

Trump’s incoming border czar Tom Homan has said deportations would focus on criminals and people with final deportation orders but has not committed to exemptions for any specific groups or nationalities.

The Trump deportation proposal was not discussed with Biden officials during Wednesday’s bilateral migration talks, de Cossio said.

Under existing accords, Cuba has accepted small numbers of deportations from the US, by air and by sea, during the Biden administration.

It was not clear whether Trump would abide by existing accords with Cuba or seek to renegotiate them, as he has in other circumstances.

Cuba has for decades blamed the US Cold War-era trade embargo for decimating its economy and encouraging the mass migration of Cubans to the US.

A much larger-scale deportation to send those Cubans back home would be unjust, de Cossio said.

“That approach seems drastic and I would say unfair. Trying to deport tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of Cubans to Cuba would be uprooting people who have already made their lives in the US.”

Trump struggled to ramp up deportations during his 2017-2021 presidency.

When counting immigration removals and faster “returns” to Mexico by US border officials, Biden deported more immigrants in fiscal year 2023 than any Trump year, according to government data.

Immigrant advocates warn that a broader Trump deportation effort would be costly, divisive and inhumane, leading to family separations and devastating communities.

Reuters