As the Trump administration continues its crackdown on illegal immigrants, Cubans, who often enjoyed special benefits from the U.S., are finding out things have changed.
At least 18 Cubans have walked in to attend their routine immigration appointments and are getting detained by federal officials, according to reports.
Immigration lawyer Mark Prada tells 7News that there is a major shift in immigration policy.
“What’s going on is a level of cruelty of people who tried to follow the correct path,” he said.
Prada added the change has come from a new policy, not any new law.
“This is stuff that we knew was going to happen with a new Trump presidency, that everything was going to become a lot harsher, and where there was discretion to show leniency, there won’t be any anymore,” he said.
The new policy concerns Cubans who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border and did not get parole. They got a special immigration form known as I-220A.
“These people have always been subject to detention,” said Prada.
Cubans who have I-220A paperwork are not eligible to get a green card under the Cuban Adjustment Act, according to a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals.
The Cuban Adjustment Act lets Cuban nationals get permanent residency a year and a day after touching U.S. soil.
“The individuals with an !-220A, even though the Board of Immigration Appeals, a couple of years ago, determined it is a parole, determined that it was not the type of parole that allows for Cubans to become residents under the Cuban Adjustment Act. Why? Because they did not consider it to be a humanitarian parole,” said immigration lawyer Eduardo Soto.
That ruling leaves hundreds of thousands of people in a legal gray zone and at risk of being detained.
“And many of them with work authorization and asylum applications pending, they are now being called in to report and be re-detained,” said Soto.
The reports of detained Cubans come at the same time that the Trump administration announced it was rolling back protections for hundreds of thousands of immigrants, including Cubans.
Cubans in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood said pulling the parole status of half a million immigrants is wrong.
“I don’t think it’s right. I think they should give them a chance, if they’re good people and they haven’t done anything wrong, they should have a chance to stay here,” said a woman.
“They actually left their home country to come to a situation where now they’re in the middle and they’re stuck and I feel badly for them,” said another person.
Prada said Cubans should know they are going through a unique time in immigration policy when it comes to their status.
“Specifically to Cubans, they really need to understand that Trump is an enormous threat to them and it’s not really getting through,” he said.
One of the lawyers is representing a Cuban currently detained. He is fighting for her release.
A bond hearing for her case is scheduled for sometime this week.