Washington, Jul 18 (EFE).– More than 35,000 Cubans for whom deportation orders have been issued could be repatriated to the Caribbean island as a result of the renewal of relations between the two countries, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, told EFE.

According to ICE data, deportation orders have been issued for 35,106 Cuban nationals in the United States, of whom 162 are currently in custody and 34,944 are at liberty.

ICE also told EFE that, up to now, Cuba’s policy was to “occasionally” accept repatriations, including in criminal cases, something that could change soon with the new understanding between the two countries and the reestablishment of diplomatic ties.

A case apart during these years, ICE said, has been a specific list of Cubans that the governments of the island and of the United States agreed upon in 1984, and which includes 2,746 names of Cuban citizens to be repatriated.

Of those, most of whom migrated to the United States from the Cuban port of Mariel, 1,999 have already been repatriated.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will receive next Monday Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, the first time that a foreign minister of Cuba visits the State Department in more than half a century, the U.S. government said.

Kerry will not attend the formal reopening ceremony at the Cuban Embassy in Washington on Monday, but he will receive Rodriguez later at the State Department, where the two will give a joint press conference afterwards.

The Cuban government announced Thursday that Rodriguez will meet with Kerry next Monday, the same day the United States and Cuba formally reestablish diplomatic relations, broken off since 1961.

Kerry plans to visit Havana soon for a formal ceremony at the new American Embassy, the first visit to Cuba by a U.S. secretary of state since 1945. EFE