By
Associated Press
The government of the president, Joe Biden, announced this Wednesday that the United States Embassy in Cuba will begin to fully process immigrant visas in early 2023, which will make it easier for Cubans to reunite with their relatives in the United States.
The embassy in Havana, the Cuban capital,
had last fully processed immigrant visas in 2017
.
The US government will also stop requiring Cubans who apply for visas in the family preference categories to travel to Georgetown (Guyana) for their interviews.
The embassy will have additional staff to manage visa applications, as part of the commitment derived from the resumption of the Cuban Family Reunification Parole program.
A group of Cuban women at the Coppelia ice cream parlor in Havana. The Washington Post via Getty Im
This 2007 program allows US citizens and lawful permanent residents
to request that their relatives in Cuba come to the United States earlier
than conventionally allowed.
Under the agreements with Cuba, the United States has also committed to guaranteeing the legal migration of at least 20,000 Cubans a year, not including direct family members of US citizens.
[“I don't regret anything”: the story of a Cuban woman who woke up from a coma in Miami after a deadly rafting journey]
The attempts to cross the border by Cubans, however,
have increased considerably in the last year
, according to data published this Monday by the United States Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP, in English).
US officials detained Cubans trying to enter the United States 19,057 times in August, a more than fourfold increase from August 2021.
[The mother of a teacher who was imprisoned in Cuba pleads for her return to the United States]
Border crossings have been fueled by people doing it again because there are no legal consequences for being removed under a pandemic-era rule, known as Title 42, that denies the right to seek asylum.