A Cuban woman with I-220A who obtained her residency through the Cuban Adjustment Act revealed that upon returning from a recent trip to Cuba at the Miami Airport, an Immigration officer threatened her with the possibility of losing her residency if she continued traveling to the island, as revealed by the affected person in statements to journalist Javier Díaz forUnivision.
The woman explained that she had applied for residency through a political asylum case but later closed that file once she obtained her residency through I-220A, howeverThe officer was emphatic when telling him that anyone who enters through the border should not return to Cuba.
“He told me that I won the residency and immediately left for Cuba, that we were lying here to the American authorities. He told me that here every Cuban who enters through the border has the court closed or is not lying, that how can we return to the country from which we were fleeing?said the witness, who preferred to hide her identity.
The Cuban claims that when she answered that she wanted to apply for citizenship, the officer told her that she ran the risk of not being able to become a US citizen for lying to the authorities.
“I reached a point where I stopped answering them because they are right in what they are saying and nothing… that people know that yes, thatWe are going to have to be left with the longing to hug our relatives and it is true, thank this country for receiving us"said the woman, who recommended other people in similar situations to know what they are exposing themselves to when they return to the United States after.
“Finally, he told me that if I went to Cuba again, he was going to take away my residency,” he concluded, describing the tense dialogue he had with the Immigration officer.
In the final segment of her presentation, the woman explained that she went to Cuba to bring her father akit operation for an eye surgery, an operation that in the end could not be carried out because there was a bacteria in the room.
He also specified that his trip, like that of many, is due to the longing to hug the family and guarantee that at least for a few days they can eat and be well.
There are already several precedents of similar warnings issued by immigration officials at the Miami Airport in recent weeks, which has caused alarm among some Cuban citizens who usually travel to the island.
At the end of February, the testimony - through the same journalist Javier Diaz - of aCuban who had been residing in the United States for almost 18 years and received a similar warning from an Immigration officer after returning from a trip to the island with his wife and children.
Despite telling him that he had entered by boat, that he had taken advantage of the Cuban Adjustment Act and that he had been in United States territory for almost 18 years, where he hadGreen Card permanent, the Immigration officer insisted on recommending that he not return to the island.
He also clarified that even if he became an American citizen, citizenship can also be removed through fraud. The family that experienced that incident has traveled an average of eight or nine times in the last six years.
Questioned about the case by lawyer José Guerrero, the lawyer said that "it is not a surprise," although in this case he was surprised given the more solid immigration status of the Cuban who was the subject of scrutiny.
"It's no surprise, we have been talking about this issue for months. Nobody wants to create panic, but we are alerting people to what is happening," Guerrero said.
Trips to Cuba in the sights
In November of last year, US Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL)questioned the situation of Cubans who are welcomed as refugees in the United States and then travel to Cuba, a country from which they supposedly fled political persecution.
His statements - highly controversial - came during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the Biden Administration's request for additional funds to quickly process migrants who enter the country illegally.
Addressing the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, the senator raised the case of Cubans who acquire refugee status in the United States and a year later are on vacation in Cuba, a country from which they supposedly fled for political reasons. .
Claiming to know this situation first-hand, Rubio explained to Mayorkas the “privileges” enjoyed by Cuban refugees and the practices they carry out protected by them, such as sending aid money to Cuba (food stamps), or the possibility of staying until three months in the country from which they supposedly fled, among others.
“If a year later you are here as a refugee, but you return to Cuba six times, shouldn't you at least lose your refugee status?” Rubio asked the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
Mayorkas who promised Rubio that he would study the matter and offer a response based on the legal arguments surrounding the issue.
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