Washington, June 10, 2022 (AFP) — The United States will resume its family reunification program for Cubans, which was suspended during the presidency of Donald Trump, this summer, as part of implementing policy changes with Cuba announced in May by the government of Joe Biden.
“The United States will begin to resume operations under the CFRP Program this summer, starting with contacting plaintiffs with pending claims,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement signed Thursday. Said.
The Parole Program for Cuban Family Reunification (CFRP), created in 2007, allows US citizens or residents to apply for a special type of admission to the United States (‘parole’) for their relatives in Cuba.
If this is allowed, these family members can enter the United States without waiting for an immigrant visa. In addition, beneficiaries may apply for a work permit in the United States while their legal permanent residency status is being processed.
DHS noted that the family member in Cuba could not initiate the process and that the decision on parole was decided on a case-by-case basis, requiring the potential beneficiary to complete the process and attend an interview.
The CFRP was created in 2007 to contribute to the fulfillment of the 1994 and 1995 immigration agreements between the United States and Cuba. These agreements commit the United States to ensure that the total legal immigration from Cuba to its country is at least 20,000 Cubans per year, excluding close family members of US citizens.
But the CFRP was suspended in 2017 when Trump denounced unexplained “sonic attacks” affecting the health of diplomats and officials, by minimizing staffing at the US embassy in Havana.
On May 16 of this year, the Biden administration said it would reinstate him in order to increase its “support for the Cuban people” in the face of the “oppression” they have been subjected to.
That day, he also promised to lift other restrictions on flights, travel, money orders, and visas to Cuba under Trump.
The realization of these announcements was coincidentally with the IX Americas Summit, which Biden will host this week in Los Angeles.
The Cuban government participated in these regional events for the first time in 2015, amid the thaw in relations with the United States promoted by then-President Barack Obama.
But Biden, who was Obama’s vice president, did not invite the Cuban government this year, citing “reservations” about the lack of democratic spaces and the human rights situation on the communist island.
DHS also said it will relaunch the Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program (HFRP), which the Trump administration announced in 2019, in the fall. This initiative was founded in 2014 to help Haiti after the devastation of the 2010 earthquake.
source: Noticias
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