ICE Buses Hundreds Of Cuban Immigrants With Criminal Records To Mexico As Third‑Country Deportations Surge

Miami Herald reports DHS/ICE are transferring Cuban and other immigrants with criminal convictions from the U.S. interior to Mexico, bussing or flying them to border handoffs where they are released without documentation. Many have decades-long U.S. ties but were previously undeportable to Cuba; now they are stranded in southern Mexico, with shelters in Villahermosa (Tabasco) registering a surge of arrivals. Officials frame the actions as removing criminal noncitizens, but details on legal authority, U.S.-Mexico coordination, and total numbers remain unclear. Lawyers and aid groups warn the practice heightens risks of kidnapping, exploitation, and medical neglect while signaling an expansion of third-country deportations.