Options Are Sought To Get Cubans With I-220A Status Out of Legal Limbo

Cuban migrants protested in front of the White House in May 2024 / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 22 January 2025 — Cubans who entered the United States irregularly and received I-220A status have not, for the moment, been mentioned by Donald Trump in his crusade against migration, which includes the cancellation of the CBP One Mobile App and the suspension of Humanitarian Parole. Although they have not yet had their status legalized, they have hope.

Republican congresswoman María Elvira Salazar promised last Friday to work with the new Administration to get the 500,000 migrants with I-220A status, according to her figures, to legally reside in the United States.”I have not forgotten those with the I-220A,” she said on X, emphasizing that she will work with the Trump Administration “to achieve a parole-in-place status,” an immigration permit that so far allows certain undocumented immigrants to stay in the United States temporarily.

“Nothing happened in President Biden’s Administration, even though we appealed to (then) secretary (Alejandro) Mayorkas”

In her message, the congresswoman reproached former President Joe Biden for not having resolved the legal situation for the thousands of people in that situation. “Nothing happened in President Biden’s Administration, even though we appealed to (then) Secretary (Alejandro) Mayorkas.” In the attached video she also calls for “a big demonstration” in Miami to call on the Government and expose the need to regularize this group in the country.

Form I-220A is a “provisional release order” by the United States Government for people who were released by immigration authorities, after they were arrested upon entering the country illegally. It requires those involved to attend hearings in an immigration court and maintain good behavior until their status is resolved.

However, the process can be long and does not guarantee that those involved will have a favorable judgment. This is the case of Jesús Espinosa, a Cuban who, on March 1, will have been in the country for three years. He was arrested upon his arrival and eight days later was released, “unfortunately with the I-220A.”

In an interview with 14ymedio, he says that he submitted his application for political asylum in April 2022, and, “to this day, I continue to wait for an available court date.”

The process can be long and does not guarantee that those involved will have a favorable ruling

Jesus hopes that the procedure will not take long, “so that I can become a resident and claim my children, who are still in Cuba”

Escaping was not easy, but he had to leave the country after the repression that came after 11 July 2021 and because of the “economic disaster in the country, which makes it impossible to live.” Like him, most Cubans with I-220 A are people who fled the Island after the massive anti-government protests of 2021, in what was one of the biggest stampedes, by the “volcano route” through Nicaragua.

After passing through Central America, thousands of Cubans crossed the border between Mexico and the U.S., the vast majority seeking to reach Florida. Many sold their properties on the Island, homes and vehicles, to finance the trip and pay the coyotes.

Jesus hopes that the procedure will not take long, “so that I can become a resident and claim my children, who are still in Cuba”

A little more than a year later, in the face of the unstoppable exodus, the Biden government established Humanitarian Parole and, with it, the possibility of traveling to the United States legally and without the risks of traveling by land through Central America and Mexico. But the I-220A no longer got this grace.

In September 2023, the U.S. Superior Board of Immigration Appeals rejected the possibility that migrants who entered the country with form I-220A could resort to the Cuban Adjustment Act (CAA) to apply for residency, which forced people to process their political asylum in an ordinary court.

The White House then considered that the only option to benefit from the CAA was humanitarian parole and not the I-220A. With this, the thousands of Cubans who aspired to apply for residence one year and one day after their arrival in the United States, as established by law, were left in a legal limbo.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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