The immigration lawyer Willy Allen categorically dismissed the idea that there is a real plan to deport 500,000 Cubans to the island, in response to statements made by former Cuban-American Democratic congressman Joe García, who claimed that this figure was on the table in negotiations between Cuba and the United States.
«Hay más chance de que los marcianos aterricen en la oficina mía en los próximos 15 minutos, a que exista un plan para deportar a 500,000 cubanos para la isla. No es real», afirmó Allen, cuyas declaraciones se producen un día después de que García disseminated the figure of 500,000 repatriations como parte de la supuesta negociación bilateral entre el régimen cubano y la Administracion Trump., generando alarma en la comunidad cubana en Estados Unidos.
Allen presents two arguments to dismantle the scenario: the legal protection guaranteed by the Cuban Adjustment Act and the logistic impossibility of carrying out a deportation of that magnitude.
In legal terms, the lawyer notes that between 2017 and 2024, more than 1.2 million Cubans entered the United States through various means—border crossings, humanitarian parole, CBP One, and family reunification—of which it is estimated that 500,000 have still been unable to obtain legal status.
From that group, most have the I-220A form and another part entered with humanitarian parole or CBP One, but Allen insists that everyone has the right to regularize their status.
"All Cubans who enter with border parole, from CBP One, or humanitarian parole, or through family reunification, all have the right to legalize under the Cuban Adjustment Act."
Regarding that law, Allen is blunt: "It is not going to be eliminated. They are not shutting it down gradually. They are making it more difficult."
The lawyer acknowledges that the legalization processes have slowed down, citing an analysis from the Cato Institute which states that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is "deliberately dragging its feet on all forms of legalization to create more panic and have more illegal individuals."
However, Allen asserts that the legal battles in federal courts over the I-220A are advancing inevitably. "It's like the step of the Elephants of Cienfuegos. It's going to be overwhelming, and we are going to win."
In logistical terms, Allen appeals to mathematics to illustrate the impracticality of deporting such a large volume of people.
As a historical reference, remember that the Freedom Flights —which operated for about seven years with daily flights— hardly transported around 200,000 Cubans to Miami. "Math, math, although I don’t know it, does not lie. Math."
Currently, Cuba receives approximately one deportation flight per month from the United States, carrying between 160 and 180 individuals, and the novelty in 2026 is that, for the first time in decades, these flights include Cubans with criminal records.
Regarding Joe García, Allen describes him as a personal friend of over thirty years, but believes that "the muse is a little out of him" and that he is mixing the current migratory situation of Cubans with the statements of the governor of Florida about the eventual return of Cubans when Cuba is free.
The writer Michael H. Miranda also questioned the figure of half a million spread by García, in a reaction that reflects the widespread skepticism regarding a scenario that Allen describes as mathematically impossible and legally unfeasible.
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