Cuban immigrants arriving in El Paso are being “paroled”

Cubans immigrants arriving at El Paso ports of entry are being “paroled” and not being held at any government facility, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

ABC-7 has learned Cubans who don’t have family or friends in El Paso are being allowed to seek shelter at the Houchen Community Center in the South Side. The immigrants may stay there or be sent to other shelters.

This week, Panama closed its border to Cuban immigrants trying to make their way north to the United States. The Central American country is flying Cubans who already made it into the country to the U.S.-Mexico border.

About 3,500 Cubans are expected to arrive in El Paso in the next several weeks. About 150 arrived Monday night and 50 are at the Houchen Community Center.”They’ve been surviving on water. So we’re offering them just a place to sleep just a space to take a shower and then to eat,” said Veronica Roman, the center’s Executive Director.

Roman said they’re expecting pregnant women and women with children. She’s concerned because she says she’s seen people approach the migrants – offering them rides to other cities for hundreds of dollars.

Herenia Gonzalez and her husband Alvaro will stay at Houchen Tuesday night and plan to travel to Miami Wednesday to meet family. They said they’ve wanted to come to the U.S. since they were children because of the “American Dream.” Alvaro said they’re fleeing a repressive government that forbids freedom of speech and other basic liberties. Herenia said she wants to study and work.

ABC-7 City Rep. Peter Svarzbein was at Houchen on Tuesday donating his father’s shoes. Svarzbein’s father was an immigrant turned doctor who died two weeks ago. “Whether it was my father coming from argentina in the 70s or someone coming in 2016 seeking political asylum, the immigrant story is the story of America providing a place of hope and betterment for future generations,” he said.

Roman said the Community center needs baby food, diapers, blankets, clothes and volunteers who are willing to drive to the ports of entry and pick up the migrants or help at the center.

Panama’s President, Juan Carlos Varela, said Monday he had agreed with his Mexican counterpart to fly 3,800 Cubans already stranded for weeks while trying to get to the U.S.

Varela says it was a difficult decision, but necessary because Nicaragua closed its border to Cubans last year and impeded their journey north. Varela says the flights could last two or three weeks.

Cubans are admitted to the United States if they get to the border. They have been arriving in greater numbers because they fear warming relations between the U.S. and Cuba could end the so-called “exceptional policy.”

Under this policy, a Cuban citizen arriving at a U.S. port of entry must provide proof of their Cuban citizenship such as a Cuban passport or a birth certificate.

Once citizenship is established, CBP officers ask if they are a member of the Cuban regime or if they work for the Cuban government, among other questions.

CBP officers take the person’s fingerprints and run the biometric data in national law enforcement databases. If no criminal or derogatory information is found, the person is processed for parole.

The CBP officer issues the traveler an I-94 parole document with the person’s temporary alien number written on the back. The parole document is valid for two years.

At the completion of one year after inspection and admission to the U.S., the Cuban national may apply to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for adjustment of status under the Cuban Refugee Adjustment Act (CRAA) in order to submit an application for permanent U.S. residency.

The Associated Press contributed to this story