Luis Carlos Lopez

El Paso Times

More Cuban immigrants are arriving in Juárez and then entering the U.S. through the Paso Del Norte Port of Entry, immigration officials confirmed Thursday.

Mexico's National Institute of Migration reported that 435 Cuban immigrants have arrived in Juárez since Tuesday.

U.S. immigration officials in El Paso confirmed that Cuban immigrants are being paroled after being processed at the Paso Del Norte Port of Entry but couldn’t give specific figures.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Roger Maier said planes carrying Cubans had arrived Tuesday and Wednesday in Juárez. They were transported to the border and processed by CBP officers at the Paso Del Norte crossing, he said.

Once processed, the Cubans are issued an I-94 parole document. The document is typically given for urgent humanitarian reasons and are valid for two years. After one year, the Cubans may apply for permanent U.S. residency under the Cuban Refugee Adjustment Act.

Enacted in the mid-1960s at the height of the Cold War and when Cuban-U.S. relations were bitter, the Cuban Refugee Adjustment Act is known as the "wet foot, dry foot” policy. Those found by the U.S. Coast Guard before reaching American soil were sent back to Cuba, while those who made it to dry land got placed on the path toward political asylum.

“We continue to promote safe, legal and orderly migration from Cuba under our Migration Accords and deter dangerous and unlawful migration from Cuba. U.S. Customs and Border Protection maintains a robust posture regarding the enforcement of our immigration laws along the nation’s borders and coastal areas.”

A Cuban immigrant must provide proof of Cuban citizenship, such as a passport or a birth certificate, when seeking admission at a U.S. port of entry, officials said. The burden of proof of citizenship rests on the individual.

Once citizenship is established, CBP officers ask a series of questions, including whether the person entering the U.S. is a member of the Cuban government or has worked for the Cuban government. The questions are meant to determine the person’s identity, immigration and criminal history.

CBP officers also take biometric finger scans and check the person against law enforcement databases. If the person’s record is clean, the CBP issues an I-94 parole document.

Officials at Annunciation House, an organization that offers shelter and other services to immigrants, said a couple of the immigrants had been taken to the shelter.

“Remember, we are on the hospitality side of immigrant refugees. If there are some that need a place to stay, we are going to offer hospitality,” executive director Ruben Garcia said.

Garcia and his organization offered the same hospitality to Central American immigrants when thousands of them were coming in through South Texas in 2014. Many of the immigrants were families and children fleeing violence from countries such as Guatemala and El Salvador.

Garcia said he wishes that Mexican, Central American and other immigrants who are fleeing violence and oppression were afforded the same pathway offered to Cubans. He said part of the reason for the spike of Cubans trying to enter the United States might be because of improved relationships between the U.S. and Cuba. A better diplomatic relationship, he said, might mean the end of the longstanding Cuban Refugee Adjustment Act.

Josiah Heyman, director of the University of Texas at El Paso’s Center for Interamerican and Border Studies, said it is possible that more Cubans are trying to enter the U.S. now out of concern for the future of the Cuban Refugee Adjustment Act.

“However, this is speculation and there is no clear indication that the dry foot policy will actually change, and if so, when and how. So people are panicking, in a crude way of expressing it,” he said in an email.

He said that if Cubans faced the same treatment as other immigrants, it “would be a significant reduction in immigration rights for many people from Cuba since US green cards (Legal Permanent Resident petitions) are available for close family members or high skill occupations, and other Cubans would be cut out (as Mexicans, Central Americans, Dominicans, Filipinos, etc. already are).”

However, he added, “We can assume that a much smaller number of Cubans could still apply for asylum based on a well-founded fear of persecution, but this would be individual cases not a blanket assumption for the whole country (so, more like Mexicans and Central Americans, as well as other countries around the world). And the US is not generous in awarding asylum in immigration court.”

In an email, U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Maier said, “The Administration has no plans to change our current immigration policy toward Cuba or seek legislative change regarding the Cuban Adjustment Act,”

Melissa Lopez, executive director of Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services, said officials are aware of the Cuban migrants passing through El Paso but haven't received any at the legal aid clinic.

“I’ve read those reports, but we haven’t seen anybody come in yet,” Lopez said. “We are expecting them, but we haven’t seen anything.”

Lopez said that for many Cuban migrants, El Paso serves as the point of entry and it’s usually not the final destination.

“If we see a huge increase in people, then of course we’ll adjust accordingly,” Lopez said. “A lot of Cubans decide to go to Florida. A lot of them don’t necessarily stay in El Paso. ... A lot of them arrive through El Paso and through Texas, but they use that as an entry point and then move on to Florida. It wouldn’t surprise me if a handful of this group decides to do just that.”

Luis Carlos Lopez may be reached at 546-6381; llopez@elpasotimes.com; @lclopez4 on Twitter.