Cubans deported as changes speed up process

| 09/05/2023 | 6 Comments
Cayman News Service
Cuban migrants transported from Cayman Brac to Grand Cayman, 11 January (File photo courtesy of the CBC)

(CNS): Changes to the legislation at the end of last year to make asylum claims more difficult for irregular migrants have enabled the Cayman Islands Government to speed up the deportation process for Cuban migrants whose claims have been denied. The CI Customs and Border Control Service (CBC) repatriated six Cuban men from Grand Cayman to Havana on Tuesday, 18 April, on a chartered Cayman Airways SAAB aircraft.

After a period with almost no repatriations, this group of six follows ten Cubans deported in March and 15 in February. While there was a steady stream of migrants arriving during the second half of 2022, none have entered Cayman waters since mid-January, though it is not clear if the changes here have been a deterrent or whether other geo-political forces are at work.

“This sends another clear message that our repatriation operations will continue until all migrants that have been denied asylum are returned to their country of nationality,” CBC Director Charles Clifford said. “Irregular migrants, like all persons living in the Cayman Islands, are subject to the laws and regulations of the Cayman Islands and may be prosecuted if they commit an offence.”

There are currently around 240 migrants still in Cayman who are still going through the process of claiming asylum.

Meanwhile, this latest group to be deported will be returning to Cuba as it continues to suffer significant economic challenges, with acute shortages of food and medicine. The pandemic decimated tourism and contributed to the second-largest economic contraction in Latin America.


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Category: Politics

Comments (6)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    How about we review and process upon entry just like anyone else and send them back on a regular flight
    It’s bad enough they come and are ungrateful for what is being done, roam the streets and yet if it was someone on a canoe they would automatically be placed in northward. Someone please help me understand why some are so privileged

  2. Anonymous says:

    Send all Ungratiful Cubans back home to Cuba.

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  3. Anonymous says:

    can the CI Govt send someone from immigration to show the UK Govt how to do it….maybe they’ll then be able to get rid of some of their illegals

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  4. Anonymous says:

    The CBC needs to stop wasting our money by sending back so few people at a time. You are chartering an aircraft with our money, fill it each time rather than sending almost empty flights time and time again. If that means the some people need to wait a week before they are repatriated on our dime, so be it.

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    • Anonymous says:

      9:51 am. Do you realize that we the Government spend a lot of money on Cubans while they here. So it maybe cheaper to send them back 7 at a time on the Saab plane than to keep them here for a few weeks .

  5. Anonymous says:

    send all back to Cuba

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