The Trump administration has deported nearly 13,000 Cubans, Venezuelans, and other nationals to Mexico, where they are vulnerable to cartel violence in an unfamiliar country, a report by Human Rights Watch released Wednesday said. While Mexico has accepted these types of deportations for years, the deportees under the Trump administration are older and have lived in the U.S. for longer than in the past.
“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,” said Alcira Hava, the Human Rights Watch fellow who worked on the report. “Imagine being dropped in dangerous cities with nothing but the clothes on your back. That’s the reality for many Cubans deported to Mexico.”
The Elderly, the Sick, and the Dispossessed
The report, based on more than 50 interviews in the southern Mexican cities of Tapachula and Villahermosa, paints a grim picture. Cubans represent the largest group sent to Mexico, with more than 4,300 deported. More than half of the 41 Cubans interviewed had lived in the U.S. since the 1980s or 1990s. Most had a green card but had lost it during their detention.
A shelter in Villahermosa has received Cuban deportees as old as 83 in the past year — a departure from the young men and families it usually receives, according to shelter worker Josué Leal.
“The U.S. discards them. Cuba discards them,” Leal said, calling it a form of “double punishment.”
More than half of the Cubans deported had a criminal record, but only 16% were for violent crimes. One-fourth had no criminal history at all. Most were detained at routine check-ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Some were detained at their workplace or in public spaces. None were taken before a judge to contest their deportation to Mexico, even when they expressed fear for their safety.
The Legal Black Hole
The Cuban diaspora has been shocked by the extent of Trump’s immigration crackdown. Cubans have long enjoyed a fast-tracked pathway to residency and citizenship through the Cuban Adjustment Act. That protection has evaporated under the current administration.
Once in Mexico, deportees are sent to southern cities with few job opportunities, limited access to medical care, and where cartels prey on them. They face a complicated logistical process to receive refugee status in Mexico — if they even qualify.
How the third-country deportations are being carried out is unclear, since neither the U.S. nor Mexico has made the agreement public. HRW called for both countries to publish the agreement and to ensure that due process and international law is respected in these cases.
The report called on Mexico to ensure access to medical treatment and a pathway to legalize immigration status for those who cannot return to their home countries. It called on the U.S. to suspend these deportations, barring those guarantees.
The Trump Administration’s Mass Deportation Plan
The deportations come as President Trump has expanded immigration enforcement to carry out his mass deportation plan. This has meant that immigrants who were not previously targeted — such as Cubans with years or decades living in the U.S. — have been caught up in the immigration dragnet.
Some countries, such as Cuba and Venezuela, limit deportation flights or do not accept deportees at all. So they are instead sent to Mexico or other countries with which the U.S. has struck deals. The result is a system where people are sent to places they have no connection to, with no resources, and with no clear path forward.
The Bottom Line
The Trump administration has deported nearly 13,000 Cubans, Venezuelans, and other nationals to Mexico, where they are vulnerable to cartel violence and lack access to basic services, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Wednesday. More than half of the Cubans interviewed had lived in the U.S. since the 1980s or 1990s. Some deportees are as old as 83. Most had green cards but lost them during detention. None were allowed to contest their deportation before a judge.
The report called the practice a form of “double punishment” — discarded by the U.S. and discarded by their home countries. HRW called on both the U.S. and Mexico to publish the secret agreement governing these deportations and to ensure due process and international law are respected.
