Mexico Will Deport Cuban Migrants Headed for US

Mexico agreed yesterday to deport Cubans passing through the country to reach the US, the Los Angeles Times reports. Increased US patrols in the waters between Cuba and Florida have smugglers using land routes through Mexico to transport would-be immigrants. Mexican authorities have arrested 2,000 undocumented Cubans this year, three times more than last year and 10 times more than 4 years ago.

The Mexico-Cuba agreement will be a “decisive tool for preventing and confronting illegal immigration, human trafficking and other related crimes,” the Cuban foreign minister said. The two governments are concerned about a partnership between drug smugglers and human trafficking networks, fueled by fees of up to $15,000 per person smuggled into the US. (More Mexico stories.)