Beatriz Monteagudo, a 25-year-old Cuban with an I-220A form, is now back home in Miami after spending nearly two months detained in a prison in San Diego, California. She ended up there following a routine appointment with ICE, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in Miramar (Broward) on March 10.
"Even by doing things right, you can't save yourself," Monteagudo said this Wednesday in an interview with CiberCuba, where she recounted her experience from the moment she was detained until she was incarcerated, not knowing what her fate would be and without having committed any crime. At ICE, they offered her the option to self-deport to Cuba or fight her case. She understood that she only had one option: to bet on her asylum in the U.S.
Monteagudo was part of a group of 18 women with I-220A, who were the first to be detained in March during their appointments with ICE, shocking the Cuban community in Florida. It is estimated that over 400,000 Cubans have entered the United States since 2021 under this migratory category, which does not allow them to benefit from the Cuban Adjustment Act after one year and one day.
After two months in prison, Beatriz Monteagudo managed to secure her release on a $4,100 bail that was arranged by the team at Law Office Liudmila A. Marcelo PA, altruistically, without charging for their services. Those two months in a common inmates' jail remain in her memory, where Monteagudo recalls with horror the sound of the keys and chains of the prison staff as they walked through the corridors.
That's in the past, but she is clear that she wouldn't want to "go through a detention again." And at this moment, being out on bail and under supervision, she acknowledges that "as long as she has an I-220A, she'll never be able to breathe easily." Still, she appears calm and prides herself on being strong and having good mental health to face the future. Right now, she is focused on processing her work permit and waiting to fight for her asylum in court.
In this interview with CiberCuba, Beatriz Monteagudo expresses her gratitude to her friend Johan, who was the one who secured the lawyer and helped promote her case in the media, as well as to everyone who contributed money to cover her bail.
Now, like many Cuban migrants in the United States, Beatriz Monteagudo can only wait to see if the "letter" that Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar requested from the previous Secretary of Homeland Security under the Biden Administration, Alejandro Mayorkas, will be taken up by Kristi Noem, the Secretary of DHS under the Trump Administration, and finally secure a 'parole in place' so that Cubans with I-220A can benefit from the Cuban Adjustment Act after a year and a day of being in the United States.
The lawyer Willy Allen has argued in his programs on CiberCuba that this "stroke of a pen" translates into an administrative decision that validates the assertion that Cubans with I-220A have been inspected, interviewed, and admitted at the border, thereby meeting the requirements to benefit from the Adjustment Act. In his view, it depends on political will.
At the moment, the I-220A are not in danger and a recent decision from the Board of Immigration Appeals provides an additional tool for lawyers to fight for the legal status of Cubans with I-220A.
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