Following the new immigration policies, Cubans with I-220A fear being deported while waiting for asylum hearings. The Adjustment Act does not guarantee residency.
Cuban migrants who received an I-220A upon arriving in the United States are afraid and uncertain about what will happen to their lives after the new provisions adopted by the Trump administration.
The document grants them a temporary stay permit in the country while they resolve their legal situation, but many are not sure that it will be enough to avoid deportation.
Yunior Luis Pino Pérez, a participant in the 11J protests, received an I-220A after crossing the border through Mexico. He lives in Miami, where he requested political asylum. This year he has a second hearing to defend his case before the immigration court, but until then he fears being deported.
"My life is in danger in Cuba, after being blackmailed and forced into exile. I simply cannot return," he told Martí Noticias.
Another case is that of Dayvel Álvarez, who arrived in July 2022 and requested asylum shortly after. After a year and a day, he requested residency under the Cuban Adjustment Act. He still has no response from any process.
"I only received the work permit. I am waiting, that is stopped, when I review the case, I still do not have a court date," he said.
Oscar Casanella's story is different. He is a political activist who in Cuba lived harassed and threatened by State Security, especially after the San Isidro Movement was quartered in Old Havana in 2020.
In 2022, he crossed the border with his young son and his pregnant wife. He handed over all the documentation that proved they were a family so that they would not be separated. However, each was given separate documents and did not have an interview.
"We wanted them to do the credible fear interview, we tried that, but they released us with the I-220A without being able to explain that we were politically persecuted," he lamented.
Casanella, a biochemical scientist, applied for political asylum and this year he must have his first court date.
His greatest fear after the new US immigration policy is that "general measures are applied, not case by case analysis, and people who have solid political asylum fall into the same bag as other people."
For many, it is almost a mystery to understand what criteria immigration officers follow at the border to grant an I-220A form or parole. There are families that entered together and their members received different treatment.
According to The Associated Press in 2022, the Border Patrol chose to grant parole because it was a faster process and did not have conditions in the detention centers to receive the avalanche of migrants.
Some Cubans with the I-220A obtained residency by applying for the Cuban Adjustment Act. But in 2023, the United States Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) rejected the option of considering the form as a way to access legal residency, which pushed Cubans to request political asylum.
Thousands of them, who arrived between 2017 and 2024, are in immigration limbo, waiting for their cases to be heard in an immigration court, and according to some lawyers, they could remain like this for years due to the increase in applications.
Note: The Trump administration could tighten immigration policies and increase deportations, posing a significant risk to Cubans with I-220As. While this document offers a certain level of protection, it does not guarantee safety from more restrictive policies.
(Source: cibercuba.com)
Trump says he will open migrant detention center at Guantánamo Bay
In his bill signing remarks, Trump said he was planning to sign an executive order opening a detention center at Guantánamo Bay that would hold up to 30,000 people in the US illegally.
Trump said the camp would be used “to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people”. The U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, already houses a migrant facility - separate from the high-security U.S. prison for foreign terrorism suspects - that has been used on occasion for decades, including to house Cubans picked up at sea.
“Some of them are so bad, we don’t even trust the countries to hold them because we don’t want them coming back,” he said. “So we’re going to send them out to Guantánamo. This will double our capacity immediately.”
Of the camp in Cuba, used to hold terrorism suspects, Trump said: “That’s a tough place to get out of.”
An internal government report said the camp was beset by rats and overflowing toilets and inmates were blindfolded while being moved around the facility.
Only 37 migrants were held at Gitmo—the name used as shorthand for the island by the U.S. military—between 2020 to 2023.
Cuban Dictator Miguel Díaz-Canel called the move “an act of brutality” in an X post and reiterated Havana’s position that the land upon which the base is located is “illegally occupied.” The island nation’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, added in a separate post that the decision “shows a lack of concern for the human condition and international law.”
Ira Kurzban, a prominent Miami immigration attorney who had sued numerous U.S. administrations including Trump’s, said the president’s words are all theater, but they still provoke anxiety throughout immigrant communities. “Disgraceful, unlawful, unworkable, and will cost U.S. taxpayers billions, not millions of dollars that are better spent on helping educate our children,” Kurzban said.
Immigrants with family reunification processes from Cuba, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador have had problems boarding their flights to the United States in recent days.
Hundreds of immigrants with family reunification processes from Cuba, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador have had problems boarding their flights to the United States after the arrival of the new administration of Donald Trump.
"When we went to board the plane they told us to go to the U.S. embassy and that they would give us more information there but they wouldn't let us travel," said Olga Lidia Hernández, a beneficiary of the Cuban Family Reunification Program (CFRP).
“They told me that they had denied me permission to fly and gave me no further explanation,” he said.
Bárbara León, mother of Olga Lidia Hernández, told Martí Noticias through tears that she is desperate after the cancellation of the flight of her daughter and two granddaughters. “I've been waiting for this moment for eight years. I traveled to Cuba and they turned us away from the airport. They treated us very badly. We did our immigration processes well. It's not fair," he commented.
Under the Joe Biden administration, family reunification programs were modernized and a routine similar to that of Humanitarian Parole was established that allowed a flight permit to be obtained after the immigrant's facial scan without waiting for an immigrant visa to become available. Previously, beneficiaries of family reunification programs had to undergo a consular interview.
CFRP and other similar programs targeting Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador were put into effect or modernized under President Joe Biden's administration. These processes are available exclusively by invitation to certain petitioners whose Forms I-130 (Petition for Alien Relative) have been approved.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) indicates that once invited to the program, immigrants must submit a form I-134A (Online Application to Become a Support Person and Declaration of Financial Support) and if the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services United States (USCIS) verifies that this is appropriate, the Department of Homeland Security conducts a security investigation of each beneficiary and evaluates their eligibility for advance travel authorization.
“In the event that advance travel authorization is granted, the beneficiary may travel to the United States on a commercial airline and request a discretionary permit (Parole) for temporary stay at a port of entry within a United States airport,” adds the DHS.
After reaching the White House, President Donald Trump eliminated similar programs that granted parole to migrants from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Haiti, as well as revoked the CBP One program that allowed migrants to schedule an appointment to request asylum in the United States.
Trump also revoked the travel of at least 10,000 refugees who were authorized to resettle in the United States, leaving numerous people stranded around the world. Among those affected, more than 1,600 Afghans are trapped in their attempt to escape the Taliban regime.
The Department of Homeland Security deferred to the State Department following a request for comment from Martí Noticias. The State Department returned a request for comment to its Homeland Security counterpart, who administers family reunification programs.
The Cuban Family Reunification Program was stopped for years after mysterious health incidents that left dozens of American diplomats affected at the US Embassy in Cuba.
A reliable source familiar with immigration processes who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to reveal administration policies said that the new administration “is not happy” with many of the initiatives inherited from the Biden administration but that “there has been no made a final decision on family reunification programs.”
“Since January 20, when President Donald Trump took office, not a single beneficiary of these family reunification programs has arrived,” said another source with knowledge of the immigration processes.
Tito Alexander Martínez Guillén, a Salvadoran who had planned to travel to the United States yesterday with his wife and four children after selling his belongings and quitting his job, was stranded in his country.
“When we arrived, the airline told us that they had received a statement from Customs and Border Protection in the United States that they would not let anyone board who had processed their permits through the CBP One app, that they should go to the embassy, but there they told us that “They couldn’t do anything,” he said.
“Right now we have no way to go or anywhere to stay,” he added.
Section 9 of the executive order introduces expedited removals, applicable to those who have been in the country for less than two years
When searching for a specific individual, ICE can arrest other undocumented individuals who are in the same location. (© USA Today)
The raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have officially begun under the Donald Trump administration, Fox News announced in the last few hours.
The main target is the more than 700,000 migrants with criminal records and final orders of deportation who are on the records of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). However, nationwide there are an estimated total of 1.3 million people who have deportation orders,
including thousands of Cubans with I-220A or I-220B.
President Trump repealed deportation priorities set forth by the Biden administration, which focused on specific cases involving national security, public safety, and serious crimes. Under the new guidelines, anyone undocumented in U.S. territory can be deported, regardless of whether their infraction was minor. This leaves a large group of migrants exposed to immediate deportation processes.
In addition, the raids are generating "collateral damage." By searching for a specific individual, ICE can arrest other undocumented people who are in the same location, placing them in removal proceedings as well.
In conversation with journalist Daniel Benítez, immigration attorney José Guerrero warned about the groups that face the greatest risks:
- Migrants with criminal records and final orders of deportation, who are the main target.
- People in detention centers, who still have limited legal possibilities to appeal their cases.
- Those who illegally cross the border, now closed after a declaration of national emergency that allows automatic deportations without the option of asylum.
The recent executive order requires Customs and Border Protection (CBP), ICE, and Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to work together to prioritize deportations. CBP controls the borders, ICE executes deportations and USCIS administers immigration benefits, but now these agencies must coordinate efforts to maximize the efficiency of operations.
Section 9 of the executive order introduces expedited deportations, applicable to those who have been in the country for less than two years. This procedure allows ICE officers to issue deportation orders without judicial review, significantly speeding up processes. While enforcement will depend on the cooperation of countries of origin to receive their citizens, this measure promises to facilitate mass deportations.
The U.S. Coast Guard is deploying naval resources along the border with Cuba, following Trump's orders to strengthen security and curb irregular migration and drug trafficking.
The U.S. Coast Guard initiated an immediate deployment of naval assets at the maritime border with Cuba on Tuesday, in response to executive orders issued by the White House under the new administration of Donald Trump.
This movement, which according to the USCG aims to strengthen security in the waters near the island and other key areas, is part of the new president's promises to curb irregular migration and drug trafficking in the international waters bordering the U.S.
Linda Fagan, the first female admiral of the U.S. Coast Guard, was dismissed by the Trump administration on Monday without explanation.
Fagan, a commandant admiral who was the first female uniformed leader of the Armed Forces branch in U.S. history, was relieved of her duties by acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamin Huffman.
Adm. Kevin Lunday, the former vice commandant of the Coast Guard, will serve as acting commandant in the meantime.
Admiral Kevin Lunday, acting commander of the Coast Guard, stated in a statement that the agency "is the world's foremost maritime safety agency, vital for protecting the maritime borders of America, its territorial integrity, and sovereignty."
"According to the president's executive orders, I have instructed my operational commanders to immediately deploy assets—cutters, aircraft, vessels, and deployable specialized forces—to enhance the presence of the Coast Guard, focusing on key areas," he stated.
The specific areas of focus include the southeast border of the U.S., extending into Florida, in order to deter and prevent massive migration from Haiti and Cuba.
The maritime border around Alaska, Hawai’i, and the U.S. territories, including Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Also the maritime border between the Bahamas and southern Florida and the southwestern maritime border between the U.S. and Mexico in the Pacific.
And the maritime boundary between Texas and Mexico in the Gulf of Mexico.
Lunday added that these efforts are being carried out in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense of the United States with the aim of detecting, deterring, and disrupting illegal migration, drug trafficking, and other terrorist or hostile activities before they reach our borders.
This deployment comes as part of a broader series of measures announced by the Trump administration to tighten border control.
The new acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Benjamine Huffman, also confirmed this Tuesday the start of a new phase of raids against undocumented migrants, focused on those with criminal records.
The new policies include the revocation of the Biden administration's guidelines, which limited the enforcement of immigration law in sensitive areas such as schools and churches, as well as the cancellation of the humanitarian parole program, which had allowed the temporary entry of more than 1.5 million migrants from countries like Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti, and Nicaragua.
The humanitarian parole program will be replaced by a case-by-case assessment, which could further complicate legal access to the country for thousands of migrants.