Despite the intense cold in the US capital, dozens of Cubans with I-220A (parole order) demonstrate this Wednesday in front of the White House to demand that the government provide a way to regulate their immigration situation in the country.
The protesters – coming from different cities in Florida – left the Miami International Airport early in the morning heading to Washington.
The protest began early with a strong demand for the US administration to consider the I-220A form as a parole that would allow them to regularize themselves, and the release of political prisoners on the island.
They claim that they fled a murderous dictatorship and were poorly processed at the ports of entry.
At least eight of the protesters have a confirmed appointment in Congress, where They will meet with congressmen María Elvira Salazar and Mario Díaz-Balart to explain the legal situation they face because they were poorly processed at the border.
Specifically, they clarify, they want the document with which they were released on parole to be considered a parole that allows them to be legalized in the United States under the Cuban Adjustment Act.
"So that I-220A is considered a parole and we can be part of this country that opened its doors to us," several of those participating in the protest expressed in statements to the media.
They said that the demonstration will also condemn the Castro-communist dictatorship on the island, and will serve to demand the release of political prisoners.
It is estimated that some 200,000 Cubans are in immigration limbo with the I-220A, and fear deportation after the US Superior Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) rejected the option in September of last year. to consider this form as a valid document to obtain legal immigration residence in the country.
Lawyers have assured immigrants that they will not be deported and that the cases opened to claim the change of status allege that the Cubans were poorly processed upon entering the country; but so far there is no official answer that will benefit them.
However, USCIS has been sending at its discretion documents parole to the addresses of several Cubans with I-220A; but thousands are still waiting for the opportunity to access US residency.
Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar has been asking Joe Biden's administration to take into account the request of migrants from the island who are fighting to regularize their situation in the United States: "They cannot leave them in immigration limbo," she said.
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