Text: Cuba News 360 Writing
Approximately 250,000 Cuban migrants and asylum seekers arrived in Miami in the last 18 months, according to the US agency AP.
The entry into that territory happens “after they were granted a precarious legal status that often does not include permission to work, which is essential to build a new life in the United States,” the text states.
In addition, they ensure that this influx is “maximizing the social safety net of migrants in the religious communities of Miami, accustomed for a long time to integrate those who escape political persecution, the lack of freedoms and the scarcity of basic products” .
Regarding this matter, the Reverend David Monduy, parish priest of the Rescue Church, warned that the situation that is being experienced “is the saddest thing, the number of people who arrive and we cannot help.”
However, the AP claims that Miami’s religious leaders and their congregations are steadfast in their mission to help new immigrants, but are sounding the alarm that the need is becoming unmanageable.
The report expands that “the number of arrivals by sea directly to Florida and those arriving across the US-Mexico border increased earlier this winter.”
They also confirm that for most newcomers, the best hope of settling in the United States is to obtain asylum, but “immigration courts are so far behind that immigrants can be in limbo for years, not being eligible to get a job legally.” ”.
For his part, the Archbishop of Miami, Thomas Wenski, commented that “it is completely irrational that they do not grant work permits. Because of that, the government can make a situation that is not so bad yet worse.”
The Cuban Daneilis Tamayo is one of the cases cited by AP who arrived in Miami in the last year and a half, after a long journey and who has had the help of the parishioners, who in addition to providing food, clothing and some help for housing, are helping to educate immigrants about their legal options.
Among the latter is a migration forum organized by the Catholic Church of San Miguel Arcángel with the law firm Catholic Legal Services in mid-February on the new program that allows 30,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans to enter the United States every month if they have a sponsor for their financial support for two years.