Cubans that arrived after “wet foot/dry foot” policy could receive green cards

Lawyers in Miami filed a lawsuit in Federal Court seeking to grant permanent residency to Cubans who arrived after the suspension of the wet foot/dry foot policy in 2017 but have been in the U.S. for a year and one day.

The lawsuit was filed against the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The U.S. government has until December 2021 to respond, according to Univision.

“Immigration cannot give any other entry to an “arriving alien” —foreigner—other than parole, and therefore their residency application should have been approved and not denied,” said attorney Claudia Cañizares.

The wet foot/dry foot policy allowed Cubans who reached U.S. soil to remain in the country and become residents. Historically, Cubans who managed to enter the US were admitted with a “parole card,” which allowed them to apply for the green card after being in the US for one year.

In 2017, President Obama ended the 1995 wet foot/dry foot policy, radically changing the process of legalization for Cubans. Cubans entering the U.S. were no longer given a parole card, making it harder to obtain residency.

There are a large number of residency applications that are pending approval, said Cañizares.

Currently, immigration activists believe that there are over 10,000 Cubans in legal limbo in the U.S.

The 55-page lawsuit was filed on September 13 in federal court and includes the cases of 43 individuals whose residency cases are still pending or have been denied.