Havana, Cuba —

A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement flight returned 161 Cuban deportees to the communist-run island last week, the first time many of the men and women aboard had touched Cuban soil in years.

Upon arrival, the deportees had shackles removed from their wrists and ankles and one at a time descended the stairway of the chartered 767 aircraft to be reprocessed by waiting Cuban immigration and health officials. Some seemed visibly dazed to suddenly be back in their homeland.

According to Cuban officials, the flight had the largest number of deportees received to date – a further sign of the Trump administration’s determination to radically alter what until recently had been preferential immigration status afforded to Cubans.

Shortly after Fidel Castro took power and

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