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Parole and I-220A

Parole, Wet Foot, Dry Foot, and the I-220A

The administrative policies that decide who gets through the door of the Cuban Adjustment Act

Updated 12 min read37 sources cited

The Cuban Adjustment Act has a narrow door. Only a person who has been "inspected and admitted or paroled into the United States subsequent to January 1, 1959" can adjust under it1. Congress has not touched those words since 1966, but who gets through that door has been decided mostly by the executive branch and the courts: parole programs that open and close, an immigration practice that lasted more than twenty years without being written into any statute, and, in the last decade, a one-page form, the I-220A, that has left many Cubans without that path to permanent residence. This page explains those mechanisms without judging individual cases.

What parole is

Parole is permission to be physically present in the United States without having been admitted. It is governed by section 212(d)(5)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which allows it to be granted temporarily "only on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit." The same provision states that parole "shall not be regarded as an admission"2. Today it is granted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through three agencies: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), at ports of entry; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), mostly on applications from the people concerned; and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which decides, among other things, parole for people in detention3.

For Cubans, parole has been the usual route to the Cuban Adjustment Act. According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), "hundreds of thousands" of Cubans entered the country between 1962 and 1979 under the Attorney General's parole authority, and as late as 2009 CBP officers "generally parole Cuban nationals into the United States," who then adjust to permanent residence under the Act4. The 1966 law allowed those people, who arrived without immigrant visas, to become residents without leaving the country1 (see What Is the Cuban Adjustment Act?).

The document that records a parole is, as a rule, the Arrival-Departure Record, Form I-94. The regulation requires that any alien paroled into the United States be issued "a completely executed Form I-94, endorsed with the parole stamp"5. On its page about the Cuban Adjustment Act, USCIS says that "evidence of lawful admission or parole into the U.S. may include a passport and Form I-94"6. The detail matters: in 2010 the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) held that an I-94 without that stamp, which recorded only a release on bond, did not show a parole7.

Parole programs for Cubans

Besides individual parole, the government has created programs with fixed rules for specific groups.

Health professionals (CMPP), 2006-2017

On August 11, 2006, DHS announced that doctors and other health professionals "sent by the Government of Cuba to work or study in third countries" could apply for parole at U.S. embassies and consulates, together with their spouses and unmarried children under 218. The program ended on January 12, 2017. President Barack Obama explained that, by "providing preferential treatment to Cuban medical personnel," the program contradicted the health cooperation between the two countries and "risks harming the Cuban people"9.

Family reunification (CFRP), 2007-2025

The Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program (CFRP) took effect on November 21, 2007. It allowed beneficiaries of already approved family petitions to come to the United States on parole and wait for their visas here, instead of waiting in Cuba. Its stated purpose was to expedite family reunification through safe, legal, and orderly channels and "to discourage irregular and inherently dangerous maritime migration." The notice grounded the program in the 1994 and 1995 migration accords, under which the United States endeavors to provide at least 20,000 travel documents a year to Cubans who want to emigrate10. In September 2022 the government announced that it was resuming operations, and on December 15, 2025, DHS terminated it along with the other family reunification programs. Paroles granted through that route ended on January 14, 2026, except for people who had filed an application for permanent residence (I-485) by December 15, 2025 that was still pending, or absent an individual decision to the contrary11.

The CHNV process, 2023-2025

In January 2023 DHS opened a parole process for Cubans modeled on the one already running for Venezuelans; together with the processes for Haitians and Nicaraguans, it is known by the acronym CHNV. Cubans with a sponsor in the United States who took on their financial support could ask for authorization to fly to an interior airport and receive parole of up to two years. The official notice said that this period would allow beneficiaries to seek, among other things, "adjustment of status pursuant to the Cuban Adjustment Act," and it capped travel authorizations for the four countries combined at 30,000 a month12. According to DHS, about 532,000 people of the four nationalities and their immediate family members received travel authorization between October 2022 and January 22, 202513.

On March 25, 2025, DHS terminated the program and set April 24, 2025 as the end date for existing paroles, absent an individual decision to the contrary14. The notice stated that DHS would prioritize for removal those who had not previously filed some benefit request, such as an application for adjustment of status14. A federal court in Massachusetts temporarily stayed the termination, among other reasons because it understood the law to require that paroles be terminated case by case and not in bulk; on May 30, 2025, the Supreme Court stayed that order while the litigation continues, over the dissent of Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor15.

CBP One appointments, 2023-2025

Between 2023 and January 2025, the CBP One mobile app let people book appointments to present themselves at ports of entry on the Mexican border. According to DHS, 582,800 nationals of the four CHNV countries arrived at those ports with a CBP One registration number between January 1, 2023 and January 31, 2025, and 99 percent were given a notice to appear before a judge16. The American Immigration Council, an immigrant advocacy organization, reports that CBP granted parole to many of the people who appeared with CBP One appointments, that the government announced in the spring of 2025 that it would revoke it for all of them, and that in 2026 a federal judge ruled that mass termination unlawful3. On January 21, 2025, CBP announced that it had removed the scheduling function16.

"Wet foot, dry foot": a practice, not a law

After the 1994 rafter crisis, the United States and Cuba signed two migration accords. Under the second, announced on May 2, 1995, Washington agreed to return to Cuba migrants intercepted at sea. Out of that came what the CRS called a "wet foot/dry foot" practice, which "has evolved": a person intercepted in the water was returned to Cuba unless he or she claimed a fear of persecution; a person who reached land was inspected and, as a rule, was allowed to stay and adjust the following year under the Cuban Adjustment Act17. No statute recorded it. It was a way of applying parole and removal, and that is why it could be ended with an announcement.

On January 12, 2017, President Obama announced that DHS was ending the so-called "wet-foot/dry foot" policy, which was put in place more than twenty years earlier and "was designed for a different era." From that day, Cubans who tried to enter irregularly and did not qualify for humanitarian relief would be subject to removal, and Cuba would accept its nationals who had been ordered removed9. DHS eliminated the exceptions that had exempted Cubans from expedited removal at airports, at sea, and in the interior, effective January 13, 201718 19. The Cuban Adjustment Act was left intact; what changed was how many Cubans could satisfy its entry requirement. The story of those years is told in Wet Foot, Dry Foot and The End of Wet Foot, Dry Foot.

Entry without inspection

A person who crosses the border without presenting himself or herself to an inspector enters "without inspection" (entry without inspection, EWI). The INA makes this a ground of inadmissibility: an alien "present in the United States without being admitted or paroled" is inadmissible20. For the Cuban Adjustment Act the consequence is direct. In February 1967, three months after the law was passed, the BIA denied adjustment to a Cuban who had forded the Rio Grande in 1959 without presenting himself for inspection21.

The rule has an exception. The Form I-485 instructions state that a person present in the United States without inspection is not eligible for adjustment under the Cuban Adjustment Act "unless DHS has paroled you under INA section 212(d)(5)(A)"22. USCIS adds that if DHS paroles a person who has already been in the country for a year, that person may apply for adjustment immediately, because the one-year period of physical presence does not have to follow the parole6. In 1999 the Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), Doris Meissner, signed a memorandum on Cuban Adjustment Act eligibility for Cubans who arrived at places other than a port of entry; the BIA has noted that internal memoranda of that kind do not bind it7.

The I-220A

Form I-220A, Order of Release on Recognizance, is the document DHS uses to release a person it has detained while removal is being decided23. Its basis is section 236 of the INA (8 U.S.C. § 1226), which allows an alien to be arrested on a warrant and released on a bond of at least $1,500 or on conditional parole. The same section bars giving the person work authorization solely because of that release24.

Since the end of "wet foot, dry foot," and also during the great exodus of 2021 to 2023 (see The Great Exodus), some of the Cubans who reached the southern border were detained for a few days and released with an I-220A instead of a parole25 26. The problem is legal: is the conditional parole of § 236 the "parole" the Cuban Adjustment Act requires?

The BIA's answer

In 2010, in the case of a Mexican national, the BIA had already said that conditional parole under § 236 is a "distinct and different procedure" from parole under § 212(d)(5)(A)7. On September 11, 2023, it applied that doctrine to Cubans in Matter of Cabrera-Fernandez: applicants who were detained less than a mile from the border and released "on their own recognizance" had not been "inspected and admitted or paroled" and could not adjust26. The decision is a precedent that binds immigration judges. On June 20, 2025, in Matter of Roque-Izada, the BIA reiterated that distinction and declined to terminate proceedings so that a Cuban could apply for adjustment before USCIS in the hope of receiving a parole later27.

Before those decisions, USCIS had opened a limited door. A notice dated February 23, 2022 allowed certain Cubans who were "arriving aliens" (people who come in through a port of entry) and whom DHS had released under § 236 ("for example, with a Form I-220A, Order of Release on Recognizance") between January 12, 2017 and November 17, 2021, and who had been denied adjustment solely for failing to prove admission or parole, to file a new I-485 or ask for reopening. The notice excluded releases ordered by an immigration judge25.

The 2025 turn

On May 15, 2025, in a case involving a Chinese citizen, the BIA held in Matter of Q. Li that "an applicant for admission who is arrested and detained without a warrant while arriving in the United States, whether or not at a port of entry," is detained under § 235(b) of the INA, and that the only way to release such a person is the parole of § 212(d)(5)(A)28. According to the Eleventh Circuit, that precedent and Matter of Yajure Hurtado may bear on an argument that attorneys for Cubans with an I-220A were already raising in the courts: that their clients were detained as applicants for admission under § 1225 and that, therefore, their release could only have been a parole, whatever the paper said29.

That argument reached the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. In July 2025, before oral argument in two cases involving Cuban families, the government changed its position and conceded that they had been detained under § 1225(a), although it maintained that they should not benefit from an error by DHS. On February 23, 2026, in Labrada-Hechavarria v. U.S. Attorney General, the court vacated the BIA's decisions and sent the cases back for fresh consideration in light of Q. Li, Yajure Hurtado, and the split among courts over detention29. It is an unpublished opinion: it sets no precedent, does not resolve under which section the families were detained, does not hold that an I-220A is a parole, and does not order any grants of residence. The full analysis is in Case Law.

The Miami lawsuit

In the Southern District of Florida, a group of Cubans with I-220As sued the government in Bello-Rubio v. Noem (No. 1:25-cv-23665). Their amended class petition asked the court to declare that their release was a humanitarian parole. On November 10, 2025, the government moved to dismiss it, arguing that the law bars courts from reviewing the discretionary decision to release someone under § 236 rather than on parole and, in its reply of December 1, that when the plaintiffs were detained they were held under § 1226(a)30. After a hearing held on September 10, 2026, Judge Jacqueline Becerra denied that motion; the written order the next day refers to the reasons stated at the hearing and, at the government's request, ordered the plaintiffs to file a new complaint expressly challenging the statutory basis for their detention31. Denying the motion is not the same as recognizing a parole for anyone: it only lets the lawsuit go forward. The plaintiffs filed that second amended complaint on September 18, the government again moved to dismiss on October 9, and as of November 5, 2026 the case was still at the briefing stage, with no decision on the merits32.

Where things stand in November 2026

As of November 2026, Cabrera-Fernandez remains the BIA's controlling precedent, and the Board has not published a new one on the I-220A33. The underlying question, under which section of the statute a person was detained, is also before the Supreme Court: on October 1, 2026 it agreed to review Rhoney v. Barbosa da Cunha, which asks "whether 8 U.S.C. 1225(b)(2)(A) mandates the detention pending removal proceedings of aliens who, like respondent, are present in the United States without having been admitted"34. That case concerns detention and not the Cuban Adjustment Act, but the Eleventh Circuit cited the split among the courts over §§ 1225 and 1226 as one of its reasons for reopening the Cuban cases29.

In Congress, the Dignity Act (H.R. 4393), introduced on July 15, 2025 by Representative María Elvira Salazar with cosponsors from both parties, proposes that, for purposes of the Cuban Adjustment Act, a person released by ICE on an Order of Release on Recognizance up to January 31, 2023 be treated as having been paroled35. It is a bill, not a law; the bills on the Cuban Adjustment Act are reviewed in Debate and Future.

Administrative holds in 2025 and 2026

On June 4, 2025, a presidential proclamation partially restricted the entry of nationals of seven countries, Cuba among them36. On December 2, 2025, USCIS ordered a hold on all pending benefit requests, including the I-485, from people born in or citizens of the countries in that proclamation, and on January 1, 2026 it extended the measure to those covered by a second proclamation. As of the access date, USCIS states on both memoranda that they are no longer in effect "due to court orders"37.

Every case depends on its facts; this page is not a substitute for advice from an immigration attorney or an accredited representative.

Notes and sources

  1. Pub. L. 89-732, November 2, 1966, 80 Stat. 1161, as amended, reproduced as a note to 8 U.S.C. § 1255 in the United States Code, 2023 edition, govinfo. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title8/html/USCODE-2023-title8-chap12-subchapII-partV-sec1255.htm back back

  2. 8 U.S.C. § 1182(d)(5)(A) (INA § 212(d)(5)(A)), United States Code, 2023 edition, govinfo. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title8/html/USCODE-2023-title8-chap12-subchapII-partII-sec1182.htm back

  3. American Immigration Council, "The Use of Parole Under Immigration Law," fact sheet, July 2026, p. 2, citing Doe v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, No. 1:25-cv-12245 (D. Mass., March 31, 2026). https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/the_use_of_parole_under_immigration_law_2026.pdf back back

  4. Congressional Research Service, "Cuban Migration to the United States: Policy and Trends," R40566, June 2, 2009. https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/R40566.html back

  5. 8 C.F.R. § 235.1(h)(2), eCFR, accessed November 11, 2026. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-8/section-235.1 back

  6. USCIS, "Green Card for a Cuban Native or Citizen," updated July 8, 2025, accessed November 11, 2026 in its web.archive.org copy of that date. https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-eligibility/green-card-for-a-cuban-native-or-citizen back back

  7. Matter of Castillo-Padilla, 25 I&N Dec. 257 (BIA 2010), which describes the memorandum of Commissioner Doris Meissner of April 19, 1999 and a 2007 DHS memorandum. https://www.justice.gov/eoir/vll/intdec/vol25/3683.pdf back back back

  8. USCIS, "Cuban Medical Professional Parole (CMPP) Program," updated January 19, 2017, accessed November 11, 2026. https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/humanitarian-parole/cuban-medical-professional-parole-cmpp-program back

  9. White House, "Statement by the President on Cuban Immigration Policy," January 12, 2017. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2017/01/12/statement-president-cuban-immigration-policy back back

  10. USCIS, "Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program," 72 Fed. Reg. 65588 (November 21, 2007). https://www.govinfo.gov/link/fr/72/65588?link-type=pdf back

  11. DHS, "Termination of Family Reunification Parole Processes for Colombians, Cubans, Ecuadorians, Guatemalans, Haitians, Hondurans, and Salvadorans," 90 Fed. Reg. 58032 (December 15, 2025), "Dates" section, https://www.govinfo.gov/link/fr/90/58032?link-type=pdf; on the September 2022 resumption, DHS, 88 Fed. Reg. 1266 (January 9, 2023), which cites the USCIS alert of September 9, 2022, https://www.govinfo.gov/link/fr/88/1266?link-type=pdf back

  12. DHS, "Implementation of a Parole Process for Cubans," 88 Fed. Reg. 1266 (January 9, 2023). https://www.govinfo.gov/link/fr/88/1266?link-type=pdf back

  13. DHS, "Termination of Parole Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans," 90 Fed. Reg. 13611 (March 25, 2025), section I. https://www.govinfo.gov/link/fr/90/13611?link-type=pdf back

  14. DHS, 90 Fed. Reg. 13611 (March 25, 2025), "Dates" and implementation sections. https://www.govinfo.gov/link/fr/90/13611?link-type=pdf back back

  15. U.S. Supreme Court, Noem v. Doe, No. 24A1079, order of May 30, 2025 and dissent of Justice Jackson, which describes the district court's order (case 1:25-cv-10495, D. Mass.). https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24a1079_p86b.pdf back

  16. DHS, 90 Fed. Reg. 13611 (March 25, 2025), text and notes 16 and 17, which cite the analysis by the Office of Homeland Security Statistics and the CBP press release "CBP Removes Scheduling Functionality in CBP One App" (January 21, 2025). https://www.govinfo.gov/link/fr/90/13611?link-type=pdf back back

  17. Congressional Research Service, R40566, June 2, 2009, sections "Cuban Migration Agreement, May 1995" and following. https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/R40566.html back

  18. DHS, "Eliminating Exception to Expedited Removal Authority for Cuban Nationals Arriving by Air," 82 Fed. Reg. 4769 (January 17, 2017). https://www.govinfo.gov/link/fr/82/4769?link-type=pdf back

  19. DHS, "Eliminating Exception To Expedited Removal Authority for Cuban Nationals Encountered in the United States or Arriving by Sea," 82 Fed. Reg. 4902 (January 17, 2017). https://www.govinfo.gov/link/fr/82/4902?link-type=pdf back

  20. 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i) (INA § 212(a)(6)(A)(i)), United States Code, 2023 edition, govinfo. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title8/html/USCODE-2023-title8-chap12-subchapII-partII-sec1182.htm back

  21. Matter of Alvarez-Riera, 12 I&N Dec. 112 (BIA 1967). https://www.justice.gov/eoir/vll/intdec/vol12/1705.pdf back

  22. USCIS, "Instructions for Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status" (Form I-485), edition of September 18, 2026, p. 30, section on the Cuban Adjustment Act, accessed November 11, 2026. https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/i-485instr.pdf back

  23. The name of the form appears in the USCIS notice of February 23, 2022 and in the government's motion to dismiss in Bello-Rubio v. Noem, both cited below. back

  24. 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) (INA § 236(a)), United States Code, 2023 edition, govinfo. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title8/html/USCODE-2023-title8-chap12-subchapII-partIV-sec1226.htm back

  25. USCIS, "Notice for Certain Natives or Citizens of Cuba Who Are "Arriving Aliens" and Who Were Denied Adjustment of Status under the Cuban Adjustment Act Based Solely on a Determination That They Had Not Met Their Burden of Establishing That They Had Been Admitted or Paroled," February 23, 2022. https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/notices/USCIS_CAA_AA_485_Denied_NoParole_Process-Feb232022.pdf back back

  26. Matter of Cabrera-Fernandez, 28 I&N Dec. 747 (BIA 2023). https://www.justice.gov/eoir/media/1320131/dl?inline back back

  27. Matter of Roque-Izada, 29 I&N Dec. 106 (BIA 2025). https://www.justice.gov/eoir/media/1404086/dl?inline back

  28. Matter of Q. Li, 29 I&N Dec. 66 (BIA 2025). https://www.justice.gov/eoir/media/1400431/dl?inline back

  29. Labrada-Hechavarria v. U.S. Attorney General, Nos. 23-13664 and 24-10645 (11th Cir. February 23, 2026), unpublished per curiam opinion, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-ca11-24-10645/pdf/USCOURTS-ca11-24-10645-0.pdf; on the weight of unpublished opinions, Eleventh Circuit Rule 36-2, August 2026 edition, https://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/courtdocs/clk/Rules%20Bookmarked.AUG26.pdf back back back

  30. Bello-Rubio v. Noem, No. 1:25-cv-23665 (S.D. Fla.), government's motion to dismiss (doc. 39, November 10, 2025) and reply (doc. 47, December 1, 2025). https://habeasdockets.org/media/documents/71113761/039_051029106013-4114acf3f270.pdf and https://habeasdockets.org/media/documents/71113761/047_051029179212-194f0d8633da.pdf back

  31. Bello-Rubio v. Noem, No. 1:25-cv-23665 (S.D. Fla.), docket entries 63 (minutes of the September 10, 2026 hearing) and 64 (order of September 11, 2026: "the Motion, ECF No. 39, is DENIED"), accessed November 11, 2026 at Habeas Dockets, which reproduces the PACER docket. https://habeasdockets.org/dockets/docket/1350/ back

  32. Bello-Rubio v. Noem, docket, entries 72 (second amended complaint, September 18, 2026), 77 (new motion to dismiss, October 9, 2026), 86 (opposition, October 23), 87 (reply, October 30), and 89 (request for a hearing, November 5, 2026), accessed November 11, 2026 at Habeas Dockets. https://habeasdockets.org/dockets/docket/1350/ back

  33. Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), indexes of precedent decisions, volumes 29 and 30, reviewed November 11, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/eoir/volume-29 and https://www.justice.gov/eoir/volume-30 back

  34. U.S. Supreme Court, docket No. 26-104, Rhoney v. Barbosa da Cunha, and "Question Presented," accessed November 11, 2026. https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/26-104.html and https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/qp/26-00104qp.pdf back

  35. H.R. 4393, 119th Congress, Dignity for Immigrants while Guarding our Nation to Ignite and Deliver the American Dream Act of 2025, text as introduced July 15, 2025, section 1503(e), govinfo. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-119hr4393ih/html/BILLS-119hr4393ih.htm back

  36. Proclamation 10949, "Restricting the Entry of Foreign Nationals To Protect the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats," June 4, 2025, 90 Fed. Reg. 24497 (June 10, 2025). https://www.govinfo.gov/link/fr/90/24497?link-type=pdf back

  37. USCIS, memoranda PM-602-0192, "Hold and Review of all Pending Asylum Applications and all USCIS Benefit Applications Filed by Aliens from High-Risk Countries," December 2, 2025, and PM-602-0194, January 1, 2026, with the USCIS note on Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island v. USCIS and Red Eagle Law, L.C. v. Edlow. https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/policy-alerts/PM-602-0192-PendingApplicationsHighRiskCountries-20251202.pdf and https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/policy-alerts/PM-602-0194-PendingApplicationsAdditionalHighRiskCountries-20260101.pdf back