Débora Eunice Arróliga, 30, a medical doctor, can hardly believe that she was approved to receive the humanitarian parole which will allow her legal entry to the United States for two years. “I am very nervous and I am excited,” the woman said via Skype to the Voice of America.
She is one of the first Nicaraguans to be approved with this program, which was announced by the President of the United States, Joe Biden, at the beginning of the year in order, according to the government, to achieve an “orderly and safe” migration. .
Her boyfriend Anthony Barboza was her sponsor and applied to the parole request a day after it was announced on television. He immediately called his girlfriend to tell her about “this door that was opening for us” to start applying and looking for all the documentation they were asking for.
The answer was received almost at the end of the day he applied. “First they sent me emails after notifying what they required. Two hours later, we began to fill in all of her information. The information from her was faster because it was only confirming all the information about her, ”says Barboza, 35 years old.
This man is originally from Nicaragua, like his girlfriend, but he has lived in Orlando, Florida since 2014. There he works as truck driver or trucker, and that has helped him earn his own income.
“This business is the one that has really helped me develop, help my family, it gives me the financial freedom to be able to support myself and help other people as well,” he told the VOA.
The last time the wedding couple were together was a year and a half ago when Anthony arrived in Nicaragua and they got engaged, however there was a long process to get married and then she had to be requested through legal channels, since her US visa was denied. he had denied on two occasions that he applied.
“I am happy because now we are going to be able to meet again,” they both commented in a video call with the VOA.
More than 127,000 Nicaraguans entered the US irregularly in 2022
The humanitarian parole was announced on January 5 by the United States government in order to reduce the migration crisis on the border, and Nicaraguans were included in the program, as were Cubans, Haitians and Venezuelans.
Those who enter the border irregularly and originate from those nationalities will be deported under the Title 42a public health measure applied by the government of former President Donald Trump.
In 2022 alone, a total of 217,091 Nicaraguans were detained at the US southern border, a record number in the last 30 years.
And December 2022, a month before Title 42 was extended, a total of 35,490 Nicaraguans were found by the United States Border Patrol, according to official data.
Arróliga, who is a doctor by profession, feels grateful to have qualified for the humanitarian program to come to the United States and now she has plans with her boyfriend, such as starting to study English and see if she can develop in her career.
“I will try to see how to develop my career as a doctor, find a way not to leave behind my studies, which have cost me so much here, for which I studied and I love it and would like to continue with it,” the woman concludes.
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