Immigration attorney Willy Allen categorically dismissed the existence of 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 number was on the table in negotiations between Cuba and the United States.
"There is a greater chance of Martians landing in my office in the next 15 minutes than of there being a plan to deport 500,000 Cubans to the island. It's not real," stated Allen, whose comments come a day after García announced the figure of 500,000 repatriations as part of the alleged bilateral negotiation between the Cuban regime and the Trump Administration, causing alarm in the Cuban community in the United States.
Allen presents two arguments to dismantle the scenario: the legal protection provided by the Cuban Adjustment Act and the logistical impossibility of carrying out a deportation of that magnitude.
In legal terms, the lawyer recalls that between 2017 and 2024, more than 1.2 million Cubans entered the United States through various means—border, humanitarian parole, CBP One, and family reunification—of which it is estimated that 500,000 have still not been able 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 situation.
"All Cubans who enter with border parole, from CBP One, humanitarian parole, or through family reunification, all have the right to legalize under the Cuban Adjustment Act."
Regarding that law, Allen is emphatic: "It is not going to be abolished. They are not gradually closing it down. They are making it more difficult."
The lawyer acknowledges that the legalization processes have slowed down and cites an analysis from the Cato Institute stating 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 insists that the legal battles in federal courts over the I-220A are advancing inevitably. "It's like the march of the Elephants of Cienfuegos. It's going to be overwhelming, and we're 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As a historical reference, remember that the Freedom Flights —which operated for approximately seven years with daily flights— barely transported around 200,000 Cubans to Miami. "Mathematics, mathematics, although I don't know them, do not lie. Mathematics."
Currently, Cuba receives approximately one deportation flight from the United States each month, carrying between 160 and 180 people. The new development 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 considers that "the muse is a little bit out of him" and that he is mixing the current immigration situation of Cubans with statements from the governor of Florida about the eventual return of Cubans when Cuba becomes 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 toward a scenario that Allen describes as mathematically impossible and legally unfeasible.
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