Lawyer Willy Allen, an expert in immigration issues, has explained to CiberCuba that the three reasons why a Cuban can lose his residence in the United States are committing a criminal offense, abandonment and fraud.
In an interview with this portal, Allen clarified that when he talks about a criminal offense he refers to any crime that includes violence and can have a punishment of more than one year. He referred to drug or human trafficking, use of a false credit card, problems with Medicare... All of these infractions will lead to them being detained by Immigration when they finish their sentence and they can be deported from the United States.
Reason 1.-Criminal offense
"After 1996, even if you serve less time than your criminal sentence, if they give you a sentence of more than a year in prison, even if you only serve four months, what counts will be the sentence they imposed on you and that will denying residency and leading to your deportation," said the lawyer.
Allen also explained that any crime committed during the first seven years of life in the United States can lead to deportation, because the immigrant is very limited in the forgiveness he can receive. However, it clarifies that a minor traffic offense, as long as it is not driving under the influence of alcohol, will not hinder obtaining residency. What is going to prohibit being a resident and happens very often, adds the lawyer, is that Cubans who are waiting to apply for residency steal from a store and that is considered "a crime against public morality." This infraction requires a pardon and anyone who does not have a father or mother or spouses or minor children who are residents or citizens does not receive a pardon and that can lead to them never being a resident and being deported.
"There are dozens of Cubans, if not hundreds, who arrive in the United States, pay attention to their normal lives, steal from stores and get a bad surprise when they go to apply for residency. There are many who have their residency, committed a serious crime of stealing, being in possession of marijuana or drugs, they travel to Cuba and when they return: Surprise! They are detained, they are put in deportation proceedings and they can lose their residence," added the immigration expert.
Now, having a deportation order does not always mean that they will send you to the Island. "Cuba selects who it will accept. Sadly there are people who live here thirty years, forty, twenty years, ten years, with deportation orders for criminal crimes, which Cuba has not accepted, which every year they have to report to the Emigration Police, every year they are under supervision, every year they have to request a work permit, every year they have to get a driver's license; new because they are deported and Cuba has not accepted them. There may be 60,000-70,000 Cubans who live this way in the United States: they cannot travel and have to apply for a work permit annually.
Reason 2: Abandonment
The second reason why a Cuban can lose his residence in the United States is abandonment and it occurs, for example, when someone travels to Cuba and gets sick there or something happens and has to stay more than a consecutive year without being in possession. of a special permit. In that case you can lose your residence due to abandonment.
This case occurs, for example, in Cuban residents in the United States who decide to travel to Spain, stay there for a year or two, receive Spanish citizenship, but get bored in Spain and when the time comes to return to the United States, Surprise! They abandoned their residence and are having difficulty entering the United States.
"Abandonment for Cubans who do not have criminal offenses is easy to overcome because the Cuban Adjustment Law is so kind that it does not matter if you have lived abroad for ten years, lost your residence, returned, stayed again for a year and a day and you are a resident again with the same number that you previously had in Immigration".
Reason 3: Fraud
"If you were a member of the Communist Party, of the Communist Youth, you have to wait five years of separation from the Communist Party or the UJC to be able to obtain residency. Thousands of Cubans have lied when they applied for residency. It does not matter when that is discovered lie. If it is discovered when you are an American citizen, they can take away your American citizenship, they can take away your residency and you can be deported for fraud," Willy Allen stressed.
This is not controlled by the American Government but, in practice, works through anonymous complaints.
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