Cubans applying for the Cuban Adjustment Act do not need to worry about any government assistance they have received: those benefits cannot be used to deny them permanent residency. This clarification was made by immigration attorney Willy Allen III during a live program, amidst the uncertainty generated by the new public charge rule from the Trump Administration.
The new regulation, published in the Federal Register on July 20, 2026 and effective from this month of September, expands the criteria under which an immigrant can be considered dependent on the government. Now USCIS officials can take into account benefits such as food stamps (SNAP), Medicaid, and housing assistance to assess, on a case-by-case basis, whether an applicant poses a risk of becoming a public charge.
Allen warned that the actual scope of the regulation is still uncertain, but he anticipated the worst: "That change is new, so I can't say with 100% certainty how they are going to use it. But knowing this government, I know it's likely they will try to push that rule to the limit of denying as many cases as possible."
As an extreme example, the lawyer mentioned the case of someone who entered with humanitarian parole and applied for 'Food Stamps.' "If the government wants to find a reason and sees that you received 'Food Stamps' in the first two months that you were in the country, they can use it against you," he noted, referring to applicants who are not protected by a waiver.
But for Cubans, the situation is different. The Cuban Adjustment Act includes a statutory exemption—approved by Congress in 1966—that protects its beneficiaries from the grounds of inadmissibility due to public charge. This exemption, confirmed by both the USCIS Policy Manual and the Federal Register itself in July 2026, cannot be eliminated by an administrative regulation from the executive branch.
"But for a Cuban person who entered with humanitarian parole and was already trying to adjust their status, all that news doesn't matter. Because the Cuban Adjustment Act is still an exception to the public charge rule," Allen III explained.
The lawyer's message was direct and reassuring. "So, if I am Cuban, I can take advantage of the Adjustment Act and have received some assistance, I can disconnect from that. No worries. It doesn't matter. It has nothing to do with it. Because it's an exception. And it remains an exception."
The clarification comes at a time of significant tension for the Cuban community in the United States, which is facing changes in the rules for obtaining residency and uncertainties regarding the handling of documents such as the I-220A, whose legal status remains unresolved before the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA).
The greatest uncertainty for Cubans undergoing the adjustment process does not stem, therefore, from the public charge rule —from which they are expressly exempt— but from other reasons that some USCIS officials have attempted to invoke, such as the expiration of parole or the assessment of good moral character, as documented by Allen III in previous appearances on Cuban Adjustment.
La regla de carga pública y otras normativas migratorias siguen cambiando. Mantente informado con nuestra sección de , donde cubrimos todo lo que afecta el estatus y los derechos de los cubanos en Estados Unidos.
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