Latest news with #I-220A
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘This is not what we voted for': Latinas for Trump founder rejects deportation agenda
In his second inaugural address, Donald Trump delivered a memorable message to the Hispanic community. 'I want to thank you for the tremendous outpouring of love and trust that you have shown me with your vote,' the president said. 'We set records, and I will not forget it. I've heard your voices in the campaign, and I look forward to working with you in the years to come.' The details of the rhetoric were predictably wrong — the Republican ticket's performance with Hispanic voters was improved, but the assertion that it 'set records' was absurd — though the comments suggested that Trump might at least try to be slightly less punitive toward the community in his second term. Nearly five months later, as the White House pursues a radical mass deportation agenda, the president's assurances are ringing hollow. The Hill reported: Florida state Sen. Ileana Garcia (R), co-founder of Latinas for Trump, issued a sharp rebuke of President Trump on Sunday as his administration seeks to ramp up deportations and other actions against migrants without legal status. Garcia took particular issue with reported tactics in southern Florida, where immigration officials have allegedly been making arrests in immigration courts and taking other steps to target individuals otherwise in compliance with legal orders. 'I will not stand down,' Garcia wrote by way of social media. 'I want to put myself on record: 'This is not what we voted for. I have always supported [Trump], through thick and thin. However, this is unacceptable and inhumane. I understand the importance of deporting criminal aliens, but what we are witnessing are arbitrary measures to hunt down people who are complying with their immigration hearings — in many cases, with credible fear of persecution claims. ... This undermines the sense of fairness and justice that the American people value.'' Rep. María Elvira Salazar, another Miami-area Republican and Trump supporter, similarly described herself as 'heartbroken' over the White House's tactics, adding, 'Arrests in immigration courts, including people with I-220A and pending asylum cases, the termination of the CHNV program, which has left thousands exposed to deportation, and other similar measures, all jeopardize our duty to due process that every democracy must guarantee.' This roughly coincides with the Trump administration pushing to eliminate funding for the Smithsonian's long-planned National Museum of the American Latino and scrapping the Spanish-language version of the White House's website. So much for telling Latino voters, 'I look forward to working with you.' But I'm also struck by the familiarity of the circumstances: Trump has betrayed Black voters in recent months in ways that are difficult even to count. Trump has betrayed Muslim voters to such an extent that leaders of Arab Americans for Trump decided to change their name. In other words, when it comes to those feeling a sense of buyer's remorse, Florida's Ileana Garcia is hardly the only Trump voter and saying, 'This is not what we voted for.' This article was originally published on
Miami Herald
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
ICE agents in Miami find new spot to carry out arrests: Immigration court
Federal agents in plain clothes staked out the hallways of Miami's downtown immigration courthouse for hours and arrested at least four unsuspecting men as they walked out of courtrooms on Wednesday. Miami Herald reporters witnessed how Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers sat in on run-of-the-mill immigration proceedings and followed the men outside the courtrooms after their hearings wrapped up. Then, a group of about 10 other ICE agents, also in plain clothes, caught them off guard in the hallway. The agents identified themselves in Spanish before handcuffing each of the men and escorting them to a van outside. 'I am not afraid,' a Cuban man said to his wife and daughter as ICE agents arrested him. In each case, Department of Homeland Security attorneys moved to drop the deportation cases before immigration judges. That is important because ICE cannot place someone in expedited removal proceedings — an administrative process that doesn't require a judge and that the government uses to quickly deport people — if they have a pending case in court. READ MORE: Where fates are decided: Miami's immigration courts are microcosm of South Florida The arrests in Miami come as lawyers elsewhere across the country, including Las Vegas, New York City, Phoenix and Los Angeles, reported similar arrests. While those ICE detentions in immigration court have happened previously, particularly under the Bush administration, they usually targeted immigrants with criminal records. In one case Wednesday, immigration court Judge Rico Sogocio, after granting Homeland Security's motion to dismiss the said, told a Cuban man to request a parole document. The man said in court that he had submitted his green card application under the decades-old Cuban Adjustment Act. The man's family later told the Herald he had entered the country with an I-220A, a document given at the border that generally cannot be used to get permanent residency under the decades-old legislation that allows Cubans who are in the U.S for a year and a day to get a green card. Once the man stepped out of the courtroom with his wife and daughter, a group of ICE agents approached him and told him he was being placed in custody. His wife and daughter, who declined to share their names with the Herald, told the agents he had an ongoing green card application process and needed his diabetes medication. An officer told his daughter he would call her by the end of day and answer any questions. Another said her father would be processed in Miramar, where an ICE field office is located. 'He is not illegal. I want to understand,' his daughter told officers with a distressed look on her face. Moments later, a Cuban man who entered the U.S. through the Mexican border in 2021 was also handcuffed by a team of ICE agents. The judge had closed the man's case after the government requested the dismissal, which ended his pending asylum case. During his hearing, a judge recommended that the man hire an attorney to seek asylum and told him his case could now be funneled through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, shortly before he was taken into custody by ICE. READ MORE: Where fates are decided: Miami's immigration courts are microcosm of South Florida Another man, whose nationality was not mentioned during his hearing, was followed out by an agent in plainclothes from the courtroom. When he entered the elevator, at least 10 ICE agents crowded him. Minutes later, a Miami Herald reporter witnessed a van with the arrested men leaving the courthouse. The immigration officers waited for hours in the hallways of the immigration court as the hearings took place, chit-chatting and cracking jokes among themselves. Some had handcuffs visible in their waistbands. The arrests in the late morning and early afternoon were focused on two courtrooms. There were also families and unaccompanied minors present at their proceedings. An ICE spokesperson told the Herald it was looking into the matter but did not provide details about the arrests as of Wednesday afternoon. READ MORE: Trump targets Biden-era migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti for deportation The reason behind Wednesday's arrests at immigration court is unclear. The Herald does not know if the men detained have criminal records. But several immigration attorneys told the Herald they believe the arrests are being driven by a Homeland Security memo from January directing ICE agents to consider putting immigrants in expedited removal proceedings if they have been in the U.S. for less than two years. Expedited removals are deportation proceedings that are administrative and don't require a judge. 'Take all steps necessary to review the alien's case and consider, in exercising your enforcement discretion, whether to apply expedited removal. This may include steps to terminate any ongoing removal proceeding,' the DHS memo says. Lawyers had previously told the Herald the memo could lead to agents showing up at immigration court, and called it a 'tool for mass deportation.' 'In my opinion, they are taking removal cases out of the docket... to put it on expedited removal, which is a lot faster,' said Antonio Ramos, an immigration attorney whose office is based in the downtown immigration court building. Ramos urged people with pending cases to seek legal counsel and request virtual hearings to avoid unnecessary exposure at in-person court dates. But Ramos said the agents outside the courtroom know exactly who they are going to detain – and have warrants on hand. The agents outside the courtrooms, he said, are part of a task force comprised of different agencies, including the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service.
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Deport every person under the sun': ICE detains Cubans during immigration appointments
Federal authorities in South Florida have recently detained at least 18 Cubans during scheduled immigration appointments, local attorneys say, highlighting that a group that has historically enjoyed special immigration benefits is not immune to the Trump administration's intensified mass deportation efforts. In recent years, hundreds of thousands of Cubans who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border have received I-220A forms, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement document that records someone's release from custody subject to certain conditions. That paperwork does not confer lawful status. Federal judges have ruled it can't be used to apply for green cards under the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, which lets Cuban nationals get permanent residency a year and a day after touching U.S. soil. Cubans with I-220As must instead seek asylum or find an alternative path to stay in the United States, like a family-based green-card petition. It's Cubans with I-220As, primarily women, whom ICE has detained at regular check-ins in the agency's field office in Miramar, attorneys say. Their detentions mark another way in which the experiences of newly arrived Cubans are different from previous generations that widely enjoyed special treatment in the federal immigration system. Read more: Cubans with I-220A forms are suddenly being detained. Here's why – and what they can do Under the Biden administration, ICE primarily focused on detaining public safety and national security threats. As long as they did not have criminal records, Cubans with I-220As were not taken into custody. That appears to have changed under the Trump administration. 'They were always vulnerable. It's just somebody has decided to take action,' said Miami immigration attorney Mark Prada. 'It's all discretion and priority decisions. And right now the priority is to deport every person under the sun.' The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to Herald questions about whether Cubans with I-220As were now considered a detention and deportation priority for ICE. Trump has said he wants to deport the millions of undocumented people who are in the United States. 'It is the policy of the United States to faithfully execute the immigration laws against all inadmissible and removable aliens,' Trump wrote in an executive order on his first day in office. Among the Cubans recently detained is Beatriz Monteagudo, 25, her friend Johan Ariel told the Miami Herald. The pair texted each other daily. But the last message he received from Monteagudo was March 10. The Cuban woman, who got an I-220A after entering the U.S. in January 2024, was heading to her required check-in appointment in Miramar. Ariel quickly grew worried that he hadn't heard from her following the appointment. When he searched the ICE detainee locator service online, her name showed up. Then came Monteagudo's call. When she called Ariel from the detention facility, she told him she was with about 18 others who had also been taken into custody after showing up for their routine appointments. Monteagudo told him she wasn't told why they were there, aside from officers mentioning the laws had changed. To date, neither Monteagudo nor Ariel have gotten answers, he says. And this week, Monteagudo, who was living in Miami, was transferred to a detention facility in San Diego. 'I am completely left in the dark right now,' Ariel told the Herald. 'I am so worried and have no resources to help her.' Ariel, who came from Cuba two years ago, fears for Monteagudo's safety if she were to be returned to her homeland. She faced issues with the island's authorities for participating in the widespread July 11, 2021, anti-government protests. 'If she returns to Cuba, she will be imprisoned right away,' Ariel said. 'That'd be destroying her life.' Rebeca Sanchez-Roig, an immigration attorney with Catholic Charities Legal Services of Miami, described the ICE decision to detain the Cuban women without criminal records as 'unusual.' 'But while unusual, it's not legally impossible,' she added. Cuba doesn't consistently accept American deportation flights — as many as 42,000 Cuban nationals remain in the U.S. despite having deportation orders. That means that deportation to Cuba is a headache for the federal government. Several Latin American countries have agreed to accept U.S. deportees from other countries, and experts warn that Cubans could also be sent to Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama. Under a deal it brokered with the Biden administration, Mexico already takes back Cubans who arrive at the southwest border. An El Salvador mega-prison recently received hundreds of Venezuelans as part of a deal the Trump administration made with Salvadorean president Nayib Bukele last month. Wilfredo Allen, a Miami-based immigration attorney, represents an asylum seeker who was among the recently detained Cubans. The cases he's learned of are mostly women. He said it's the first time he's seeing Cubans with I-220As with pending immigration cases or green card applications and no criminal histories end up in ICE custody. 'It's creating a big panic,' Allen said. Laura de la Caridad Sanchez, 27, is one of those Cuban women with I-220As whom ICE detained as she was attending an immigration appointment in Miramar, her attorney, Eduardo Soto, said. Soto said he doesn't know why Sanchez, who was living in Coral Gables with her mother, and the others were detained; he added that immigration officials cited a memo and said it 'came down from powers that be in Washington.' Soto said he's prepared to file a federal lawsuit if she is not released. 'This step was taken to detain her and place everyone in a panic,' Soto said. 'It's a waste of the government's time and money and her time and money.' U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar of Miami, who has positioned herself as a champion for Cubans with I-220As, confirmed on X that she was aware of the recent detentions at ICE's office in Miramar. 'I recently spoke with ICE and Homeland Security officials and asked them to not detain Cubans with I-220A and allow for their asylum cases to be heard,' Salazar said in a statement posted in Spanish. 'As you all know well, during the Biden administration I sought a solution for Cubans with I-220A, and I will not stop until it's no longer necessary.' Miami U.S. Reps. Carlos Gimenez and Mario Diaz-Balart, who like Salazar are Cuban American, didn't respond to Herald requests for comment. They have not released statements about the detainees. However, Diaz-Balart in 2023 expressed outrage with the Biden administration over its I-220A policies affecting Cubans 'which are causing confusion, chaos, and injustice.' Prada described the fact that so many Cubans have been given I-220A documents as 'a backdoor repeal of the Cuban Adjustment Act.' He has been at the forefront of several lawsuits that have resulted in Cubans with I-220As obtaining parole to remain in the U.S. and gain permanent residency. Lawyers note that for South Florida's Cuban community, many of whom supported Trump's presidential campaign, the rapid immigration enforcement changes may come as a surprise. 'People come out in favor of the face-eating leopards,' Prada said. 'And then they get surprised when the leopard eats their face.' The detainment of Cubans by ICE in Miramar is stoking fear in South Florida's immigrant community, said Allen, a Miami immigration attorney for over three decades. He said he believes the Trump administration is trying to 'intimidate' people and cause panic so they voluntarily return to their home countries. The panic, however, isn't only affecting immigrants, Allen said. Immigration officers are being pressured for not detaining enough people, and judges and government lawyers are also being strong-armed into rejecting people's efforts to stay in the U.S. Allen said people with I-220A, despite their fears, should continue to show up to their appointments and court dates. 'They should hold faith that this year a federal court will rule in favor of them.'
Miami Herald
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
‘Deport every person under the sun': ICE detains Cubans during immigration appointments
Federal authorities in South Florida have recently detained at least 18 Cubans during scheduled immigration appointments, local attorneys say, highlighting that a group that has historically enjoyed special immigration benefits is not immune to the Trump administration's intensified mass deportation efforts. In recent years, hundreds of thousands of Cubans who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border have received I-220A forms, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement document that records someone's release from custody subject to certain conditions. That paperwork does not confer lawful status. Federal judges have ruled it can't be used to apply for green cards under the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, which lets Cuban nationals get permanent residency a year and a day after touching U.S. soil. Cubans with I-220As must instead seek asylum or find an alternative path to stay in the United States, like a family-based green-card petition. It's Cubans with I-220As, primarily women, whom ICE has detained at regular check-ins in the agency's field office in Miramar, attorneys say. Their detentions mark another way in which the experiences of newly arrived Cubans are different from previous generations that widely enjoyed special treatment in the federal immigration system. Read more: Cubans with I-220A forms are suddenly being detained. Here's why – and what they can do Under the Biden administration, ICE primarily focused on detaining public safety and national security threats. As long as they did not have criminal records, Cubans with I-220As were not taken into custody. That appears to have changed under the Trump administration. 'They were always vulnerable. It's just somebody has decided to take action,' said Miami immigration attorney Mark Prada. 'It's all discretion and priority decisions. And right now the priority is to deport every person under the sun.' The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to Herald questions about whether Cubans with I-220As were now considered a detention and deportation priority for ICE. Trump has said he wants to deport the millions of undocumented people who are in the United States. 'It is the policy of the United States to faithfully execute the immigration laws against all inadmissible and removable aliens,' Trump wrote in an executive order on his first day in office. Among the Cubans recently detained is Beatriz Monteagudo, 25, her friend Johan Ariel told the Miami Herald. The pair texted each other daily. But the last message he received from Monteagudo was March 10. The Cuban woman, who got an I-220A after entering the U.S. in January 2024, was heading to her required check-in appointment in Miramar. Ariel quickly grew worried that he hadn't heard from her following the appointment. When he searched the ICE detainee locator service online, her name showed up. Then came Monteagudo's call. When she called Ariel from the detention facility, she told him she was with about 18 others who had also been taken into custody after showing up for their routine appointments. Monteagudo told him she wasn't told why they were there, aside from officers mentioning the laws had changed. To date, neither Monteagudo nor Ariel have gotten answers, he says. And this week, Monteagudo, who was living in Miami, was transferred to a detention facility in San Diego. 'I am completely left in the dark right now,' Ariel told the Herald. 'I am so worried and have no resources to help her.' Ariel, who came from Cuba two years ago, fears for Monteagudo's safety if she were to be returned to her homeland. She faced issues with the island's authorities for participating in the widespread July 11, 2021, anti-government protests. 'If she returns to Cuba, she will be imprisoned right away,' Ariel said. 'That'd be destroying her life.' Rebeca Sanchez-Roig, an immigration attorney with Catholic Charities Legal Services of Miami, described the ICE decision to detain the Cuban women without criminal records as 'unusual.' 'But while unusual, it's not legally impossible,' she added. Cuba doesn't consistently accept American deportation flights — as many as 42,000 Cuban nationals remain in the U.S. despite having deportation orders. That means that deportation to Cuba is a headache for the federal government. Several Latin American countries have agreed to accept U.S. deportees from other countries, and experts warn that Cubans could also be sent to Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama. Under a deal it brokered with the Biden administration, Mexico already takes back Cubans who arrive at the southwest border. An El Salvador mega-prison recently received hundreds of Venezuelans as part of a deal the Trump administration made with Salvadorean president Nayib Bukele last month. Wilfredo Allen, a Miami-based immigration attorney, represents an asylum seeker who was among the recently detained Cubans. The cases he's learned of are mostly women. He said it's the first time he's seeing Cubans with I-220As with pending immigration cases or green card applications and no criminal histories end up in ICE custody. 'It's creating a big panic,' Allen said. Laura de la Caridad Sanchez, 27, is one of those Cuban women with I-220As whom ICE detained as she was attending an immigration appointment in Miramar, her attorney, Eduardo Soto, said. Soto said he doesn't know why Sanchez, who was living in Coral Gables with her mother, and the others were detained; he added that immigration officials cited a memo and said it 'came down from powers that be in Washington.' Soto said he's prepared to file a federal lawsuit if she is not released. 'This step was taken to detain her and place everyone in a panic,' Soto said. 'It's a waste of the government's time and money and her time and money.' U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar of Miami, who has positioned herself as a champion for Cubans with I-220As, confirmed on X that she was aware of the recent detentions at ICE's office in Miramar. 'I recently spoke with ICE and Homeland Security officials and asked them to not detain Cubans with I-220A and allow for their asylum cases to be heard,' Salazar said in a statement posted in Spanish. 'As you all know well, during the Biden administration I sought a solution for Cubans with I-220A, and I will not stop until it's no longer necessary.' Miami U.S. Reps. Carlos Gimenez and Mario Diaz-Balart, who like Salazar are Cuban American, didn't respond to Herald requests for comment. They have not released statements about the detainees. However, Diaz-Balart in 2023 expressed outrage with the Biden administration over its I-220A policies affecting Cubans 'which are causing confusion, chaos, and injustice.' 'Face-eating leopards' Prada described the fact that so many Cubans have been given I-220A documents as 'a backdoor repeal of the Cuban Adjustment Act.' He has been at the forefront of several lawsuits that have resulted in Cubans with I-220As obtaining parole to remain in the U.S. and gain permanent residency. Lawyers note that for South Florida's Cuban community, many of whom supported Trump's presidential campaign, the rapid immigration enforcement changes may come as a surprise. 'People come out in favor of the face-eating leopards,' Prada said. 'And then they get surprised when the leopard eats their face.' The detainment of Cubans by ICE in Miramar is stoking fear in South Florida's immigrant community, said Allen, a Miami immigration attorney for over three decades. He said he believes the Trump administration is trying to 'intimidate' people and cause panic so they voluntarily return to their home countries. The panic, however, isn't only affecting immigrants, Allen said. Immigration officers are being pressured for not detaining enough people, and judges and government lawyers are also being strong-armed into rejecting people's efforts to stay in the U.S. Allen said people with I-220A, despite their fears, should continue to show up to their appointments and court dates. 'They should hold faith that this year a federal court will rule in favor of them.'
Miami Herald
21-03-2025
- General
- Miami Herald
Cubans with I-220A forms are suddenly being detained. Here's why – and what they can do
The federal government has recently detained Cubans with I-220A documents during immigration check-ins in Miami, creating panic and uncertainty in South Florida's immigrant communities. Immigration lawyers estimate that hundreds of thousands of people have gotten the I-220A form after being processed at the U.S.-Mexico border. That paperwork has made it difficult for recently arrived Cubans to fix their immigration status, including getting a green card though the decades-old Cuban Adjustment Act, like generations of people from the island before have been able to do. READ MORE: A new era for Cuban migrants: Some can't get green cards despite decades-old law Here's a breakdown looking at the paperwork, what it means and other questions our readers have about I-220As. What is an I-220A form? An I-220A, or an 'Order of Release on Recognizance,' is a form that simply documents that a migrant has been released into the United States by Immigration and Customs Enforcement — but it does not confer lawful or permanent immigration status. Border authorities have given it to hundreds of thousand of Cuban nationals after processing them at the U.S.-Mexico border. The Cubans were placed in what are called 'removal proceedings' — a legal process to determine if an immigrant should be deported — and released with certain conditions, including attending immigration court hearings and checking in with authorities. MORE: This federal ruling will keep many Cubans from getting green cards to stay in the U.S. Some Cuban immigrants used the paperwork to apply for green cards — and got them granted — through the Cuban Adjustment Act, a 1966 law that allows Cubans to apply for permanent residency a year and a day after arriving in the United States. However, in September 2023, immigration appeals court judges ruled that I-220As could not be used to get green cards. That means that Cubans who entered the U.S. with that document have had to find other ways to permanently stay in the U.S., including seeking political asylum or having a family member request a green card on their behalf. Why did border authorities give Cubans I-220A forms at the border? Generally, Cubans who have come in through the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years have been given either I-220As or humanitarian paroles, which are temporary entry permits granted for urgent humanitarian needs. The parole permits allow Cubans to apply for permanent residency under the Cuban Adjustment Act as long as they meet other requirements under the law. But Cubans cannot get green cards under the Cuban Adjustment Act using their I-220As in place of parole documents, the board of immigration appeals ruled. Lawyers and Cuban immigrants who came in through the border have told the Herald that there appears to be no rhyme or reason as to why border authorities gave some people I-220As while others got humanitarian paroles. In some cases people in the same family or group who crossed the border together ended up getting different documents, which means that those who got parole have a much easier time finding a way to permanently stay in the United States. There have been cases where a woman has been given one kind of paperwork while her husband got another. In court documents over I-220A litigation, the Department of Homeland Security has said that it has discretion to decide who gets what kind of paperwork when processing migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. Lawyers aren't buying it. 'There is no pattern that we can decipher from this,' said Miami-based immigration attorney Mark Prada, who has argued in several lawsuits against DHS that releasing Cubans with just an I-220A form is illegal. Prada has ongoing litigation where he has asserted that the federal government gave those Cubans the wrong documentation when released, and that they should have been issued a humanitarian parole instead. Why are Cubans with I-220As being detained? The detentions appear to be a change in immigration priorities under the new Trump administration, lawyers say. Wilfredo Allen, a long-time Miami immigration lawyer, told the Miami Herald that ICE had recently detained one of his clients with I-220A paperwork, a Cuban woman seeking asylum with pending court proceedings, and that he knows of other similar cases. 'It's the first time I see that people with I-220As, with no criminal records, and pending court hearings or green cards have been detained,' said Allen. 'That creates a huge panic.' The Trump administration has put pressure on immigration officials to ramp up detentions and deportation numbers. So people who were not a detention priority under the Biden administration — which focused on recent arrivals at the border and public safety threats — are now being detained. 'They were always vulnerable. It's just somebody has decided to take action,' said Prada. 'It's all discretion and priority decisions. And right now the priority is to deport every person under the sun.' What advice do lawyers have for Cubans with I-220As? Prada told the Herald that giving hundreds of thousands of Cubans I-220A forms is a way for the executive branch, which includes the Department of Homeland Security, to get around the Cuban Adjustment Act through the back door, since it is a federal law that only Congress can repeal. Allen said that Cubans with I-220As should continue following the law and attending their immigration check-ins, but that they should be 'cautious.' Immigration lawyers say Cubans should seek other ways to adjust their immigration status, such as filing a political asylum claim or having a family members request a green card for them if possible. Prada's bottom line: 'Hire a competent lawyer who understands the situation — and fight.'
