Over 4,000 U.S.-based Cuban immigrants have been left in limbo after being deported to Mexico as part of the Trump administration's crackdown, according to nonprofit Human Rights Watch. Many of them came from Florida's contentious detention centers — "Alligator Alcatraz" and Krome Detention Center.
They represent the largest portion of “third country nationals” in Mexico — people who have been deported to the country who are not from there. They are essentially stranded in the country, unable to return to either the U.S. or Cuba.
According to a report titled “Casting Us Aside to Die," the 4,300 Cuban immigrants have been left in a vulnerable position in cities like Villahermosa and Tapachula — without housing, health care or social services.
“They’re casting us aside to die,” said Harold, a 58-year-old Cuban national who spoke to Human Rights Watch. “There’s no help; we can’t work because we don’t have papers. They don’t give us anything, nothing…. How are we supposed to eat, to pay rent?”
Many of the Cuban immigrants deported to Mexico were originally detained in Florida.
“Florida is the main [place] where arrests and deportations are happening from,” said Alcira Silva Hava, co-author of this report “We’re talking Alligator Alcatraz and Krome Detention Center, unfortunately.”
The controversial detention center in the Everglades, “Alligator Alcatraz," is expected to close in early June, the New York Times reported recently. The facility still remains open. Vendors who operate the facility were notified of the closure last month but the Governor Ron DeSantis has not confirmed a date.
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The facility, along with Krome Detention Center, has been criticized for “overcrowding, unsanitary facilities, constant illumination, as well as the deprivation of adequate food, safe drinking water and hygiene,” according to a report from Amnesty International.
What will happen to the remaining detainees after the detention center closes is unclear. However, detainees can be legally transported to another ICE detention center or deported entirely.
This was the case for many of the Cuban nationals that were deported to Mexico, according to the report.
“People are usually shuffled across detention centers,” Silva Hava said, “There’s a specific case of one Cuban man who was first deported to Cuba [but] the Cuban government refused him entry. He was flown back to the U.S. and then deported to Mexico.”
Over half of the Cuban immigrants interviewed for the Human Rights Watch report lived in the U.S. for at least three decades before deportation, initially arriving in Florida during the 1980 Mariel boatlift or through el bombo, a lottery system in the 1990s for Cubans to come to the U.S.
Many of the Cuban immigrants deported to Mexico are over the age of 60 and have chronic health conditions.
“The oldest person we interviewed was an 83-year-old man who had diabetes, who had been living in the U.S. for over 40 years. His phone and identification were taken away. He had no way of accessing his private retirement payments,” Silva Hava said.
Ricardo del Pino, 67, died from cancer following his deportation. After serving a sentence of 17 years in the U.S., he was sent to Mexico in 2025. According to Josué Leal, who works at a shelter in Villahermosa, Ricardo was "severely malnourished and remained without legal documentation.”
Pino’s nationality was listed as unknown on his death certificate.
Over half of the Cuban immigrants that were interviewed for this study had a previous criminal conviction. But only 16% had a violent or potentially violent offense on their record, according to the report.
Since 2025, 13,000 third country nationals have been deported from the U.S. to Mexico. The deportees in this study came from a range of countries, including Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, and El Salvador.
Human Rights Watch is demanding more transparency around third-country deportations. The group also asking for an option for deportees to contest their removal, especially if they are elderly or have chronic health conditions.
“What’s very clear, I think, is that sending people to these areas where there’s no institutional support — there’s no purpose beyond cruelty,” Silva Hava said.
