Overview
- U.S. officials led by Secretary Marco Rubio have held months of negotiations that became public Wednesday after Uruguay confirmed ongoing dialogues about receiving deported migrants, including Cubans.
- The Trump administration has already sent roughly 6,000 Cubans to Mexico and relocated other migrants to countries such as Eswatini and South Sudan, a practice that rights groups have criticized for placing people far from family or into unsafe settings.
- Uruguay is considering the proposal partly because it needs migrant labor, has a relatively open migration system, and received record numbers of Cuban arrivals in recent years, including nearly 24,000 asylum applicants last year.
- Officials say any written implementing agreement might not name Cubans explicitly, though reporting and sources indicate Cubans would be the primary group affected by transfers to Uruguay.
- Advocates warn that tighter U.S. policies that narrowed historic protections for Cubans have left hundreds of thousands exposed to deportation and that moving people to distant third countries could harm family reunification and long‑term safety.