When Liexer De La Cruz walked into a federal courtroom in Miami on Jan. 9, he expected a routine immigration hearing. Instead, he was forced to make a life-changing decision in a matter of seconds: voluntarily return to Cuba or remain in the United States while facing the constant threat of deportation. He was not given a chance to speak with his wife and sister, who were waiting outside.
The decision brought a sudden end to five years of building a life in America. De La Cruz had traveled through nearly a dozen countries by foot, car, bus, and boat to reach the country. He remembered crossing the U.S.-Mexico border into Texas with his wife in August 2021, where they obtained official immigration paperwork in the hope of eventually applying for green cards under the Cuban Adjustment Act.
"The first thing I did was call my aunt and I told her, ‘I’m in the United States. I’m in the United States.’ And we began to cry," he recalled. Historically, Cuban migrants have been granted a preferential pathway to U.S. citizenship through the Cuban Adjustment Act, but enforcement has tightened under the second Trump administration.
According to a report by ReliefWeb, more than 500,000 Cubans issued the same I-220A form as De La Cruz are left with an uncertain status while courts debate whether the document qualifies under the law. After entering the U.S., De La Cruz and his wife settled in South Florida near his family. His wife worked as a cook, and he trained to become a certified electrician, taking job assignments as far away as Kentucky and Nebraska.
His earnings allowed him to buy shoes and other essential goods for his two daughters in Cuba. The couple planned to eventually bring their teenage daughters—his two and her one—to live with them in the U.S., where they could have reliable food, water, and electricity. That goal dissolved when the judge pressed him for an answer.
De La Cruz made his choice on the spot. When he exited the courtroom, he did not need to tell his wife and sister what had transpired; the expression on his face revealed that he had agreed to return to Cuba. De La Cruz grew up in the rural town of Las Minas, located about 30 minutes from Havana.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
