Relatives of Cubans with parole humanitarian aid approved almost a year after submitting their applications have restored hope to dozens of people who say they are desperate without answers from the US authorities.
A family from Santiago de Cuba stated in statements to the journalist Mario J. Penton who presented their cases on January 11, 2023 and it was not until January 6 that they received a response. They applied to six people and all were approved, they said.
We have waited a long time, we had almost lost strength and hope, but on January 26 they approved my six relatives: My son, my daughter-in-law, my two grandchildren, my cousin and her daughter, explained a woman.
More of 67,000 Cubans arrived in the US in 2023 thanks to the humanitarian parole announced by President Joe Biden on January 5 of that year, according to updated statistics from the United States Department of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released last month.
Overall, through the end of December, 327,000 migrants among CubansHaitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans arrived legally to the US under this initiative of the current US administration.
In the midst of an unprecedented migration crisis, it was also said that fiscal year 2023 closed with 200,287 requests from Cubans to the US immigration authorities, just 24 thousand less than the people who arrived at the border in the previous period, when they crossed, especially by Mexico, 224,607 migrants from the island.
The approval of the travel permit is not an endorsement for the automatic delivery of the parole when appearing before CBP authorities, who have the power to grant entry into the country.
Last May, the US government introduced changes to the application selection process, combining the random approval of cases with attention to requests with longer waiting times.
The authorities have committed to addressing all cases, but thousands of Cuban families are anxious and desperate waiting for a response.
