Cubans with I-220A. What paths remain?

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The panic over deportations has also set in among Cubans who have recently arrived in the United States in the face of the new immigration directives of the Trump administration. This feeling comes from the fact that the new government considers the Biden administration’s Parole Program illegal, an “abuse” of a prerogative given by Congress. Republican logic argues that both the Parole Program and CBP One should be analyzed “case by case,” not on a massive scale.



These elements were contained, among other places, in the lawsuit of the twenty Republican states against the Parole Program, with Texas at the head (2023), and in a hearing of the Subcommittees on Border Security and Compliance and Oversight, Investigations and Accountability of the Department of Homeland Security of the House of Representatives, led by Republicans Clay Iggins and Dan Bishop (2024). As a presidential candidate himself, Trump was responsible for doing an impeccable job in favor of creating this panic, preparing the ground in the media. For example, in September 2024, during an interview with Fox News, Trump said that he considered Parole beneficiaries “illegal immigrants” who should not be in the United States.

And he attacked the program because it allowed them to enter the country by plane. Related Posts Inequality and reforms: a local syllogism? January 20, 2025 Donald Trump. Another United States January 18, 2025 What do those who do not believe in democracy believe in? January 15, 2025 A breakthrough in cataract surgery in Cuba with the use of AI January 9, 2025 var jnews_module_317683_0_67a295958cda4 = {"header_icon":"","first_title":"Related Posts","second_title":"","url":"","header_type":"heading_1","header_background":"","header_secondary_background":"","header_text_color":"","header_line_color":"","header_accent_color":"","header_filter_category":"","header_filter_author":"","header_filter_tag":"","header_filter_text":"All","post_type":"post","content_type":"all","number_post":"4","post_offset":0,"unique_content":"disable","include_post":"","exclude_post":317683,"include_category":"14135,27,34783,24764,20014,195,13075,13601,22090,21140,34932,20040,34875,34417,34473,34105,34651,19033,34784,18622,1019,17953,50,18666,34943,29,22887,273,34121","exclude_category":"","include_author":"","include_tag":"","exclude_tag":"","sort_by":"latest","date_format":"default","date_format_custom":"Y/m/d","force_normal_image_load":"","pagination_mode":"nextprev","pagination_nextprev_showtext":"","pagination_number_post":"4","pagination_scroll_limit":0,"boxed":"","boxed_shadow":"","el_id":"","el_class":"","scheme":"","column_width":"auto","title_color":"","accent_color":"","alt_color":"","excerpt_color":"","css":"","paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_21"}; He also stressed that, if he won in November, he would close the CBP One application and expel those who had arrived by that route.

“I would revoke it,” he said of CBP One, which he described as “bad.” But he went further: Parole was “even worse.” On the other hand, more recently, an internal DHS memo to which CBS had access has only increased those fears by announcing that “the parole status of those allowed into the U.

S. under the CHNV policy would be revoked,” which would “ place them in deportation proceedings if they have failed to apply for, or obtain, another immigration benefit, like asylum, a green card, or Temporary Protected Status (TPS).” A tip of the hat to the more than 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans who arrived in the United States under that program.

“Get ready to leave” But in reality, the news is not surprising. In addition to the “get ready to leave” of the electoral phase, the executive order “ Securing Our Borders, ” signed by Trump on January 24, establishes the following: “Terminate all categorical parole programs that are contrary to the policies of the United States established in my Executive Orders, including the program known as the “Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans.” And it orders “Removing promptly all aliens who enter or remain in violation of Federal law.

” Because of its impacts, implications and consequences, the leaked document prefigures a range of legal and political options. One is the possible reaction of a federal judge to this issue. Another, lobbying with the structures of the executive branch.

For now, a first consequence is obvious. As former DHS official Tom Jawetz put it, “Targeting people who came to the U.S.

with sponsors and continue to play by the rules isn’t just gratuitously cruel, but it will make our system more chaotic .” The case of I-220A The I-220A document, also called Form I-220A, is a conditional release order. The U.

S. government issues it to some people detained at the border and later released by immigration officials. That “conditional release for Cubans” frees those involved from federal custody as long as they meet conditions such as attending immigration court hearings, not violating local and federal laws, and, if required, wearing an electronic ankle bracelet.

The ICE website says about it: If you are not in ICE detention, you must attend all scheduled hearings, appointments at the local office, and update your mailing address. If you do not attend court hearings, you may be expelled from the United States. The terms of your release may require you to attend appointments at the local ICE office.

Your court hearing is the opportunity for you to explain why you believe you are eligible for relief or protection from expulsion. It is extremely important that you attend your court hearing. Failure to attend your court hearing may result in a court order or even your expulsion from the United States.

While before August 2022 Cubans with I-220As had managed to become residents, the truth is that the majority have not succeeded. The problem occurred in the aforementioned month, when a Miami judge granted permanent residency, under the Adjustment Act, to a group of Cubans after they were detained near the U.S.

-Mexico border “without being inspected and paroled.” They were released with an I-220A. But the Department of Homeland Security challenged the judge’s decision: “The Immigration Judge reasoned that the respondents’ release occurred through a grant of humanitarian parole by operation of law.

..We conclude that the Immigration Judge erred,” it was said.

Entering the United States with an I-220A document is different from obtaining a humanitarian permit. Cubans with that document were then not eligible to change their immigration status under the Adjustment Act, they concluded. After the Miami judge That put them against the wall.

In September 2023, the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals ratified that Cubans who entered the country with the I-220A could not resort to the Adjustment Act to obtain residency.

Which brought a consequence to the table: from that moment on, immigration court judges would have to follow the precedent of the aforementioned Board of Appeals because it was binding, unless a federal appeals court or the U.S. Attorney General ruled otherwise.

The Curbelo Law firm summarized the situation as follows: What does this federal ruling mean for Cubans? On September 11, 2023, the Board of Immigration Appeals of the United States Department of Justice ruled against considering the I-220A as a humanitarian parole. This parole would have allowed eligible immigrants to apply for the Cuban Adjustment Act. This act was enacted in 1966 and has since allowed eligible Cubans to adjust their status in the United States to that of permanent resident.

.. The new decision concluded that entering the United States with this document is different from receiving a humanitarian parole.

And further on: The path to the Adjustment Act has become increasingly narrow. In 2017, President Barack Obama repealed the “wet foot, dry foot” law. This law allowed those Cubans who had entered irregularly and/or who did not meet the admission requirement, which now constitutes a sine qua non condition, to be eligible for the benefit of the Cuban Adjustment Act.

People with an I-220A form can apply for asylum and try to demonstrate a plausible risk of persecution. However, they will have a pending asylum status and will be required to renew their work permits every two years while their asylum case remains active in immigration court. Strictly speaking, dry foot/wet foot is not an “act” but an executive action by President Clinton discontinued by President Obama.

But in any case, the important thing is that at that time more than 200,000 Cubans were awaiting the decision, hoping to apply for residency one year and one day after their arrival. Lawyers have advised I-220A holders to seek other mechanisms to achieve residency, but above all, to apply for political asylum. “A well-prepared asylum case increases your chances of success.

Unfortunately, many cases lack sufficient evidence, making them difficult to win. It is essential to seek legal advice early on to guide and represent you in the process. Legal representation can significantly increase your chances of success or provide a specialized assessment of the viability of your case,” says a specialized website .

On Sunday, September 17, 2023, groups of Cubans with I-220As gathered in front of the Versailles restaurant in Miami to protest against the Board’s ruling, which effectively left them in legal limbo. “No one is going to look for you at home, nothing is going to happen to you. You are going to stay in the United States.

And little by little we are going to legalize you,” immigration attorney Willy Allen assured them. Later, they did the same not only in Miami but also in Houston. On January 18, 2024, a bipartisan group in the House of Representatives, including Cuban-American Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar, sent a letter to Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Alejandro Mayorkas urging him to grant Parole in Place status to any Cuban who had been issued an I-220A upon arrival in the United States.

Many expected a solution, but this did not happen. With Donald Trump With Donald Trump in the Oval Office, the new thing in terms of deportations is that ICE has more power to carry them out in an express manner without the undocumented having to go through a long legal process in the courts. Before, the people subjected to this expedited process were those who had been in the country for less than 14 days and were detained one hundred miles from the border.

Not anymore. Now the measure applies to those who have been in any of the 50 states for less than two years. The order does not distinguish whether or not the undocumented have criminal records.

On January 24, María Elvira Salazar sent a letter to the acting Secretary of Homeland Security, Benjamine C. Huffman, urging his Department “to continue protecting Cubans, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, and Haitians without criminal records and pending cases from deportation.” According to statements by Immigration attorney Rosaly Chavino to Univisión, with the arrival of Donald Trump to the presidency and his executive orders on the immigration issue, people with I-220A who have a process in court cannot be put into an expedited deportation process.

Those who run that risk, she said, are those who are not in that case, have been in the United States for less than two years and who the officials can determine are inadmissible for not having received a parole. “It is difficult to understand why some were released with I-220A and others with parole,” acknowledged attorney Willy Allen. “We do not know for sure what criteria the officials used in each case.

That is why we are fighting...

for the I-220A to be considered a valid entry under the Cuban Adjustment Act, as is the parole, and for all Cubans to be able to regularize their situation in the United States,” he concluded. Tags: Cuban emigration featured U.S parole.