(14ymedio/EFE) Cubans Elaen García and José Luis Escalona entered the United States on Wednesday through the CBP One application, the apps of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service through which migrants can apply for asylum. “Everything went well and it was fast,” he told the journalist Daniel Benítez, an interview he shared on his channel Youtube.
Escalona, who is originally from Moa, explained that he had been taken to Mexico twice by Title 42, the health regulation implemented during the pandemic by the Donald Trump Administration that allowed the immediate expulsion of migrants. “On January 5 I entered the US through Mexicali and they expelled me to Mexico through Tijuana and on the 6th I entered through Yuma (Arizona), they also expelled me to Tijuana.”
This Cuban said that after two days “stuck there” he found out that there was an alternative through a platform that was launched in 2020 and that was expanded in January for asylum seekers, where they can provide advance information and request travel documents and an appointment.
The CBP One application is the US Customs and Border Protection app through which migrants can apply for asylum
On January 11, “I didn’t sleep waiting for the appointment,” he said. Escalona was on the lookout until she was able to enter the application. The response to the requested appointment arrived six days later, on January 17. This Wednesday he carried out the process, “I did 70031”. The process, she reiterated, was fast, and they delivered parole one year, other migrants three months and others more than six.
Undocumented migrants who enter the US illegally are returned to Mexico. Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians as well as Venezuelans can use the CBP One application to request an appointment to enter US territory.
Elaen García, also obtained parole for a year. This Cuban told Benítez again in an interview that he shared on his YouTube channel, that he had an expulsion order from Mexico that was delivered to him after being detained at the Siglo XXI immigration station, located in Tapachula (Chiapas).
García mentioned that through the CBP One App he is informed about the day and port of entry to the US. He was together with Escalona and 19 other migrants, five Cubans among them, one Haitian and the other Ukrainians and Russians. “They were all prosecuted.”
He mentioned that the officers asked them where they were going, the reason they wanted to enter the US and why they were leaving their countries.
These Cubans are part of the 200 migrants who crossed into the US through CBP One, the director of Migrant Services, Enrique Lucero Vásquez, confirmed to 14ymedio. “It will be more difficult for them to fall into the hands of coyotes.”
Leibis María Reyes García, who was returned to Mexico and is in Hermosillo with a QR code that the US authorities gave her to request asylum, said she did not know her future.
Lucero Vásquez recommended approaching the advisers who go to the shelters to see their possibility of resorting to CBP One. “If appointments are enabled right now, they will be received within 14 days. It is estimated that there are more than 5,000 migrants in shelters and We believe that more than half already have their appointment with CBP One, there will be a lot of movement and we will no longer see those images of migrants waiting outside to enter a place.”
US immigration authorities released nearly 3,000 asylum seekers awaiting deportation from a list of confidential data on more than 6,000 immigrants that was accidentally leaked late last year.
Among the almost 3,000 migrants who have been released to continue their process in the US, there are 17 Cubans who were going to be deported to the island last December.
On November 28 (Coma) the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) mistakenly released a document on the internet with the identities, ages and nationality, among other data, of 6,252 immigrants, who in At that time they were in their custody, who claimed to be victims of torture and persecution in their countries of origin.
After learning about the incident, lawyers for the immigrants warned that the information revealed could lead to retaliation against their clients by the individuals, gangs or governments they are fleeing, and put them at risk of death.
Federal regulations prohibit the disclosure, without DHS approval, of personal information about applicants for asylum or other immigration protections.
Among the almost 3,000 migrants who have been released to continue their process in the United States is a group of 17 Cubans who were to be deported to the island last December.
However, about 100 asylum seekers affected by the publication of their data were deported by ICE last year. The agency has said it is willing to help these migrants return to the US and apply for political asylum.
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