Cuba Values Donald Trump's Plan To Deport Mass From The United States Is Unrealistic

Illustration of the United States - Mexico border. (Wikimedia Commons / US Customs and Border Protection)

JAKARTA - Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio said on Wednesday that President-elect Donald Trump's proposal for the mass deportation of immigrants living illegally in the United States, which may include Cubans, is unrealistic and unfair.

The comments followed regular migration talks in Havana with colleagues from the United States President Joe Biden Administration.

Such deportation proposals should be examined within the limits of existing migration agreements between the United States and Cuba, he told reporters.

"In that context, it is unrealistic to think there may be mass deportations from the United States to Cuba," de Cossio said.

Under existing agreements, Cuba has received a small number of deportations from the US by air and sea during President Biden's Administration.

Trump's deportation proposal was not discussed with President Biden's government officials during Wednesday's two-way migration talks, de Cossio said.

Separately, Brian Nichols, a top US diplomat for Latin America, wrote on X that the United States delegation of Sam had met Cuban officials in Havana to review the US-Kuba Migration Agreement, which began in 1984.

"(Delegation) highlights our success in curbing the illegal migration of Cuba by sea and land," Nichols said.

Some time ago, Trump promised a crackdown on immigration, aimed at deporting large numbers of immigrants, an operation estimated by his vice presidential candidate JD Vance, could move 1 million people per year.

Meanwhile, Trump's chief border authority, Tom Homan, said deportation would focus on criminals and those who were given the final deportation order, but had not yet committed to exceptions for certain groups or nationalities.

It's unclear whether Trump will abide by existing deals with Cuba or try to renegotiate them, as he has done in other situations.

For decades, Cuba blamed the US Cold War era trade embargo for destroying its economy and encouraging the mass migration of Cubans to the United States.

However, large-scale deportations to send them home would be drastic and unfair, de Cossio said.

"Trying to deport tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of Cubans to Cuba will expel people who have built their lives in the United States," he added.

Trump is known to be struggling to increase deportation during his first term of office, from 2017 to 2021.

While calculating the faster transfer of immigration and "return" to Mexico by US border officials, President Biden deported more immigrants in the fiscal year 2023 than any Trump year, government data showed.

Immigrant supporters warn that Trump's wider deportation efforts will be expensive, divisive and inhumane, leading to the separation of families and communities.