Encounters of Cuban Nationals at Southwest Border Drops

Immigration attorney Leon Fresco was quoted in Spectrum News article about the decrease in illegal border crossings since the Biden Administration instituted a new legal process. The new legal process allows for up to 30,000 nationals per month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to come to the United States. The program allows for nationals from the four countries to stay in the U.S. for up to two years and work if they meet all of the necessary criteria. It disqualifies those who use unlawful methods to enter the country. Mr. Fresco believed that the program is working.

“The policy is working as intended where you’re seeing a dramatic reduction of Cuban nationals trying to go to the southwest border without permission" Mr. Fresco said. “Anecdotally, I can tell you that there are still people trying to come by sea that has not ended, but that number too is less than it was before.”

Mr. Fresco shared that while the legal program is working, there are some challenges for those applying to it.

“The two biggest problems are finding a sponsor, having that sponsor be financially capable of applying for the person. And, secondly, how does one navigate the process where it’s the foreign national in Cuba that’s supposed to fill out the part for themselves? Do you wait to get internet and fill that out? Or do you just go ahead and do it for that foreign national,” he said.

READ: Encounters of Cuban Nationals at Southwest Border Drops