{"id":273072,"date":"2023-07-20T16:25:18","date_gmt":"2023-07-20T20:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=273072"},"modified":"2023-07-20T16:25:18","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T20:25:18","slug":"humanitarian-parole-is-the-storm-coming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba-usa\/humanitarian-parole-is-the-storm-coming\/","title":{"rendered":"Humanitarian parole: is the storm coming?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The humanitarian parole policy is only six months old and is already announcing a storm. What began as a sunny day welcomed with joy by thousands of families on both shores, soon turned gray with the attempt to impute the program by 20 states of the Union; the stream of criticism of the processing of the cases by the applicants; and the notable accumulation of applications in the hands of the immigration authorities.<\/span><\/p>\n

In October 2021, the humanitarian parole program was approved for Venezuelans. In January 2023 it was extended to Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti. As a policy, it was instituted to respond to the chaotic situation on the southern border of the United States. In this sense, its objective was to calm the waters and discourage potential irregular migrants from trying to reach the country through illegal means. The dream of legal entry also germinated in them. Both authorities and figures show that the policy has managed to reduce the avalanche at the border.<\/span><\/p>\n

According<\/span><\/a> to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) office, in September 2022 alone, 182,704 border encounters were quantified. 42% (77,302) were nationals from Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba. The number meant an increase of 245% compared to September 2021.<\/span><\/p>\n

In January 2023, the meetings of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans on the southern border dropped from a daily average of 1,231. This was quantified on the 5th \u2014 before the announcement of the policy \u2014 to only 59 on the 31st of the same month: a 95% drop in just over three weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n

The announced luck<\/b><\/p>\n

The border authorities <\/span>credit<\/span><\/a> the implementation of the program with the decrease in the number of irregular migrants from the four beneficiary countries, which has been verified from January to date.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the specific case of Cuba, in January 2023 \u2014 the first month of the program \u2014 a total of 6,175 of its nationals were found on the southern border. Just a month earlier, in December 2022, the numbers had reached 42,183. The statistical decrease from one month to the next was 85%.<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout the fiscal year 2022 (October 1, 2021-September 30, 2022), which registered record numbers of migration along the southern border of the United States, 220,607 Cubans were caught in their attempt to enter that country illegally. The number exceeded all previous annual statistics, including the migratory waves of 1980 and 1994. In the first wave, with the opening of the port of Mariel, around 125,000 migrants left Cuba between April and October 1980. In the second, known as the \u201crafters crisis,\u201d some 35,000 emigrated in about five weeks (summer 1994).<\/span><\/p>\n

According to numbers <\/span>revealed<\/span><\/a> by CBP at the end of May 2023, only 907 Cubans were intercepted at the southern border that month.<\/span><\/p>\n

The advantages of the humanitarian parole policy are indisputable. It is a method of entering the country, although more selective and reduced, also legal, with no initial cost other than the plane ticket. It allows the beneficiary to be eligible for a temporary residence and work permit for two years, provided they have a sponsor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cubans in times of \u201cparole\u201d: the island\u2019s new migratory experience<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n