MIAMI, United States. – Cuban rafters who arrive in the United States and who are initially admitted by the Coast Guard will not be able to benefit from the Cuban Adjustment Act once they complete one year and one day in US territory, immigration lawyer Willy Allen assured the outlet. CubitaNow.
“They don’t qualify for the Cuban Adjustment Act if they don’t receive a parole upon arrival. And there are extremely few who have that luck”, specified the lawyer.
On the other hand, the few Cubans who are not deported by the Coast Guard upon arrival on the coast of the United States, will only be able to remain long-term in the country and become legal if they request political asylum and obtain it.
Allen confirmed to CubitaNow that the hundreds of Cuban rafters who have arrived in the Florida Keys in the last week have received an expedited deportation order (I-220 B).
“Everyone is leaving with an expedited deportation order, without having gone through a credible fear interview or having the opportunity to present political asylum,” he explained.
“No rafter who has made landfall, not a single one, is going to legalize under the Cuban Adjustment Act if they don’t get an I-220 A form or a parole, and extremely few have been given those opportunities. I only know of one family of six who received the I-220 A; the rest of the people I have dealt with since November have received final orders of deportation,” the lawyer said.
Likewise, he said that the “only option” that these rafters have to legalize themselves is political asylum through a credible fear interview. “If they sit idly by, they will be deported to Cuba. They do not qualify for the Cuban Adjustment Act because they do not have an inspection [en puerto de entrada] and an admission [legal]”, he sentenced.
Asked about the immediate future of the Cuban rafters who continue to arrive on the Florida coast, Allen assured that they will be repatriated “through expedited deportation orders.”
This Thursday, The Secretary of Homeland Security of the United States, Alejandro Mayorkas, asked migrants from the region not to throw themselves into the sea or put their lives in the hands of smugglers, shortly after the United States Government announced the new immigration program for Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans.
In an interview with the voice of americathe US official said that the measures approved by the Biden administration would take effect immediately.
“Whether it’s today or tomorrow, but right away, we’re going to start making this program accessible. It is extraordinarily important that we provide a safe, humane and orderly way for people to get to the United States without having to put their lives and life savings in the hands of smugglers, because it is too traumatic,” Mayorkas said.
With regard to the rafters -especially Cubans and Haitians- who are arriving on the Florida coast, the senior official assured that the United States will keep its Coast Guard deployed to intercept “the people who make this dangerous journey”, who will be returned to Cuba or the corresponding country.
In this sense, he stressed that it would be “a serious mistake” for people to jump into the sea after the announcement on Thursday. “They won’t succeed,” he said. “We will exercise our legal authorities. People who take these irregular paths (…) not only risk their life but risk it only to fail ”, he added.
Receive information from CubaNet on your cell phone through WhatsApp. Send us a message with the word “CUBA” on the phone +525545038831, You can also subscribe to our electronic newsletter by giving click here.
