The United States will resume this summer the family reunification program for Cubans suspended during the presidency of Donald Trump, in the framework of the implementation of the policy changes towards Cuba announced in May by the government of Joe Biden.
(Read here: This will be the forum parallel to the Summit of the Americas led by Cuba)
“The United States will begin the resumption of CFRP Program operations this summer, beginning by contacting petitioners who have a pending application,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement dated Thursday.
(You may be interested: Summit of the Americas puts the region in check due to intense controversies)
Created in 2007, the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program (CFRP) 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 permission is granted, these family members can enter the United States without waiting for their immigrant visas.
The CFRP was created in 2007 to help enforce the 1994 and 1995 migration agreements between the United States and Cuba.
In addition, beneficiaries may request authorization to work in the United States while their lawful permanent resident status is being processed.
The DHS stressed that the relative in Cuba cannot initiate the process, and that the decision to grant ‘parole’ is decided on a case-by-case basis and requires that the potential beneficiary complete the processing and attend an interview.
The CFRP was created in 2007 to help enforce the 1994 and 1995 migration agreements between the United States and Cuba.
These agreements commit the United States to ensure that total legal migration to the United States from Cuba is a minimum of 20,000 Cubans each year, not including immediate family members of US citizens.
But the CFRP was suspended in 2017, when Trump reduced the staff of the US embassy in Havana to a minimum, denouncing unexplained “sonic attacks” that affected the health of diplomats and officials.
On May 16, the Biden Administration said that it was going to reestablish it with the aim of increasing its “support for the Cuban people” in the face of “the oppression” they suffer.
That day he also promised the lifting of other restrictions on Cuba imposed during the Trump era in relation to flights, travel, remittances and visa processing.
The realization of these announcements has been reported in coincidence with the IX Summit of the Americas that Biden hosts this week in Los Angeles.
The Cuban government participated for the first time in these regional events in 2015, in the midst of the thaw in the relationship 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, pointing out “reservations” about the lack of democratic spaces and the human rights situation on the communist island.
DHS also said it will restart the Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program (HFRP), which had been announced to end in 2019 by the Trump Administration, this fall. This initiative was established in 2014 to help Haiti after the devastation of the 2010 earthquake.
AFP
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