A Cuban who entered the United States under humanitarian parole was detained by ICE agents while working as an Uber driver, facing a critical legal situation: the classification applied to him prevents access to bail. The case was revealed this Monday by immigration attorney Wilfredo «Willy» Allen during his weekly program on CiberCuba alongside journalist Tania Costa.
"Right now, as I was leaving my office, a Cuban man who came through humanitarian parole entered; he was driving for Uber, but they stopped his car because of the license plate and he is now detained," Allen recounted.
The man has been in the country for almost three years, applied for residency under the Cuban Adjustment Act about two years ago, and never applied for asylum because he believed he did not need it. That decision now closes off that avenue of protection for him.
The central problem is the category that ICE assigned to him: "foreign national arriving in the United States" —in English, arriving alien—. "They detained him and accuse him of being a foreign national arriving in the United States. This means that the immigration judge does not have jurisdiction over his case and cannot grant bail," Allen explained.
This classification, applied to Cubans who entered on parole under the argument that their admission was temporary and conditional, leaves the detainee without the right to bail or to be released under supervision.
The Allen law firm is pursuing the only option available: pressuring USCIS to interview the man in jail and resolve his adjustment of status application. "It's a somewhat difficult process, but it's what we have to do right now," the lawyer admitted. "We don't have many alternatives other than to fight."
The case occurs at a time when ICE reaches record numbers of arrests, with more than 50,000 detentions recorded in August 2026. As of the 6th of that month, only 31% of the over 500,000 arrested had any criminal convictions.
That information becomes significant in light of the rumors that circulated over the weekend: several media outlets reported that ICE had received internal instructions to pause the arrests of individuals without criminal records. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) publicly denied this, and President Trump confirmed to the press that there are no changes in immigration policy.
Allen was emphatic: "I saw some comments that I knew were completely false, because if you look at what this government has always said, what DHS has said, it's that they are going to detain everybody."
The lawyer explained the logic behind that reality. "Statistically, more than 70% of the people they have detained have no traffic violations." If ICE excluded those without a criminal record, their weekly detention quota would drop by 70%.
Allen described the rumors as "a fairy tale for the November elections, meant to make it seem like they are being more reasonable when they are not."
The lawyer also warned about Cubans detained by ICE through other entry methods. “I can tell you now that they are detaining Cubans using CBP One and through humanitarian parole, and it’s sad, and I tell you this because it will be even sadder and more difficult for them.”
The increase in detentions of Cubans specifically reached a 463% since October 2024, a trend that cases like that of the Uber driver starkly illustrate: individuals with no criminal records, with active legal processes, who become targets precisely because they are easier to locate than the criminals who are hiding.
"For them, anyone who is in the United States, who is not a resident and entered by bike, came through the border, is awaiting residency, is awaiting asylum, is equally illegal," Allen concluded.
Este caso refleja los riesgos que enfrentan inmigrantes con parole ante las actuales operaciones de ICE. Sigue los últimos desarrollos en para mantenerte informado.
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