A Cuban who entered the United States with humanitarian parole was detained by ICE agents while working as an Uber driver and is now facing a critical legal situation: the classification applied to him prevents him from accessing 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 entered through humanitarian parole was driving for Uber, and they stopped his car because of the license plate, and he is now detained,” Allen said.
The man has been in the country for nearly three years, applied for residency under the Cuban Adjustment Act about two years ago, and never applied for asylum because he believed it was unnecessary. That decision now closes that avenue of protection for him.
The central issue is the category assigned to him by ICE: "arriving alien." "They arrested him and are accusing him of being an arriving alien. This means that the immigration judge has no jurisdiction over his case and cannot grant bail," Allen explained.
That classification, applied to Cubans who entered with parole on the grounds that their admission was temporary and conditional, leaves the detainee without the right to bail or to be released under supervision.
The Allen firm is working on the only available option: pressuring USCIS to interview the man in prison and resolve his status adjustment application. "It's a somewhat difficult process, but it's what we need to do now," admitted the attorney. "We don't have many alternatives other than to fight."
The case occurs at a time when ICE reaches record numbers of arrests, with over 50,000 detentions recorded in August 2026. By the 6th of that month, only 31% of the more than 500,000 arrested had any criminal conviction.
That information becomes relevant 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 a criminal record. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) publicly denied it, and President Trump confirmed to the press that there are no changes to 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 is that they are going to detain everyone."
The lawyer explained the logic behind that reality. "Statistically, more than 70% of the people they have detained have been individuals with no traffic violations." If ICE excluded those without criminal records, their weekly quota of arrests would drop by 70%.
Allen described the rumors as "a fairy tale for the November elections, so it appears they are being more reasonable when they are not."
The lawyer also warned about Cubans detained by ICE through other entry routes. "I can tell you now that they are detaining Cubans with CBP One and with humanitarian parole, and it's sad, and I say this because it will be even sadder and more difficult for them."
The increase in arrests of Cubans specifically reached a 463% since October 2024, a trend that cases like that of the Uber driver starkly illustrate: individuals with no prior records, with active legal proceedings, who become targets precisely because they are easier to locate than criminals who are hiding.
"For them, anyone who is in the United States, who is not a resident and entered by bicycle or through the border, is waiting for residency, is waiting for asylum, is equally illegal," concluded Allen.
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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