28 Mar, 2024
2 mins read

Well-known immigration attorney on whether or not Cuban migrants who reach US can stay: “They have a shot”

MIAMI – It is almost like clockwork, and most always early morning, that Cuban migrants try to reach Florida.

On Tuesday, 25 of them landed on Key Biscayne. A federal law enforcement official confirmed, as they put it, “a maritime smuggling event.”

This fiscal year, some 3,000 Cubans have been apprehended at sea – most repatriated to back to the island nation.

Willy Allen is probably one of Miami’s best known immigration lawyers.

“Once you touch the American territory you have the right to go before an immigration judge and seek asylum,” he said.

That’s what the thousands upon thousands of Cubans are doing at the US border with Mexico. That is likely what these folks that arrived Tuesday morning will do: Ask for asylum, describe a creditable fear of persecution and seek a hearing. They might not be going back to Cuba anytime soon.

“You have a shot to present your asylum case to an asylum officer and a judge so they have a shot to stay here,” Allen said.

Despite the wet foot, dry foot policy being dropped, there is still a chance the arrivals could stay, possibly paroled waiting for a hearing. Smuggled or arriving on Florida’s shores, Cuban migrants are a drop in the bucket compared to the number of Cubans arriving by land at the US-Mexican border.

“If you look at figures that came out in June, the are at 170-plus Cubans… that are clogging up the immigration system. it is impossible to go before an immigration judge in the near future.”

How about Cubans that land in South Florida by boats are undetected?

“This year we have half a dozen guys who came in that way. We applied for asylum for them, and they have interviewed already and out of the five four got

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Optimum General Insurance affirms commitment to IBAC’s broker campaign


Optimum General Insurance affirms commitment to IBAC's broker campaign

The Insurance Brokers Association of Canada (IBAC) has announced that another insurer has renewed support for its Broker Identity Program (BIP) – a national advertising campaign at spreading awareness of the value insurance brokers provide for their clients.

Optimum General Insurance maintains its support for IBAC’s BIP at the Full Partner level. Optimum’s sponsorship and investment will extend not just to the national advertising campaign, but to IBAC’s other initiatives as well. These initiatives include the association’s technology leadership, professional development of the broker workforce, and its federal advocacy to keep the banking and insurance industries separate.

“Since our relationships with our brokers are at the core of our operations and achievements, we cannot underestimate the meaningful value of their partnerships represent to our business,” said Optimum senior vice president, corporate partner relations and strategy J. Sébastien Lagarde. “Optimum is proud to pursue, again this year, its investment and contribution to this initiative of the Insurance Broker Association of Canada.”

Lagarde added that Optimum believes that its continued investment in the IBAC and the BIP would support and bring attention to the “winning value proposition” of independent brokers.

“We welcome Optimum’s renewed partnership and thank them for their enduring support for insurance brokers,” commented IBAC CEO Peter Braid. “Optimum recognizes the important role that brokers play in advising and advocating for their clients, and the mutual benefits of working with brokers in a shared commitment to uphold the best interests of the consumer.”

Read more: Wynward Insurance Group affirms support for IBAC’s national broker campaign

Last week, Wynward Insurance Group renewed its Full Partner support for IBAC’s BIP. The commercial insurer said that its success as a company was made possible thanks to brokers seeing the benefits of a Wynward policy and communicating those benefits to clients.

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