Since the Cuban revolution in 1959, Cubans have immigrated to the U.S. Over the years Cubans have taken different routes to get to the U.S. Immigrating to the U.S. has always been difficult but immigrating from Cuba is easier. People say that Cuban immigrants are more privileged than other Latin American groups when migrating to the U.S. and the migrating U.S. policies. Though it is easier for Cubans to become residents or citizens, the channels they travel are difficult. Some Cubans come into the country legally but there are a lot that come into this country illegally.
“When Cubans go through the border they are put on parole. Every Cuban has a different parole experience. Some have to tell their parole officers everyday where they are while others take a picture in the morning and send it to their officer,” said Yohana Laurenti, recent 46-year-old Cuban immigrant.
Yohana immigrated at the end of November in 2022 from Cuba. She took the long way to get to the border because she could not get a visa to go directly to Mexico. Yohana received a visa to go to Panama, so she went from Panama to Costa Rica, then from Costa Rica to Mexico. When she arrived in Mexico, she walked through a river to get to the border to Texas. The way Yohana immigrated to the U.S. is one of the most dangerous ones. In Mexico she traveled in a truck for comforters and bedsheets in a group of 10 to 20 people. They had to hide in a compartment in the truck, they were cramped and stuck in the compartment for 17 hours.
“I was so uncomfortable because I am so tall, and I got claustrophobic. Someone in my group fell out of the truck because he got so desperate and crazy from the small space,” said Yohana.
Ernesto Diaz immigrated to the U.S. in 1992 on a boat with a couple of people. He hid out in a village in Pinar del Rio for a month from the government before he set sail to the U.S. Diaz decided to leave Cuba because he wanted to give his family the opportunity to live a better life. He thought moving to the U.S. could change his family’s lives so he risked his life immigrating on a boat. While traveling on the boat the transmission broke so he had to replace it with another transmission. When they finally got to West Palm Beach they were arrested and spent a week in jail. In a year or two he received his legal residency.
“Communism sounds good but, nobody has anything, only the people in the government. I had nothing to give to my sons or my wife, so I left my country to finally be able to give them something. When I stepped into this country, I knew it was my home,” said Diaz
Ela Alvarez spent years in Cuba taking care of her two sons in Jaimanita. She spent years waiting to be claimed by her husband Ernesto or to win the visa lottery. Being claimed by someone in the U.S. allows people to migrate from anywhere and winning the visa lottery gets you a green card. Alvarez won the visa lottery, but she was also claimed by her husband. She had two routes to choose from and they were both legal. She decided to immigrate via her husband's claims instead of the lottery to give someone else the opportunity to get the green card.
“I would change nothing about the way I came here, and I didn’t miss anything when I left. The way I came took a long time to get approved, but I got here safely. Some people take dangerous routes to get to the States, I would have done them, but I have two boys and I didn’t want to leave them alone,” said Alvarez.
Esmeralda Laurenti immigrated to the U.S. in 1993 by visitor visa. Her mother Celia Laurenti migrated to the U.S. years prior with some of her kids and she requested a visitor visa for her daughter Esmeralda. Esmeralda was supposed to stay in the U.S. for a couple of weeks, but she stayed for longer. She waited for two years to get her residency and she could not work, so she spent those years working on her English. When she finally got her residency a year later, she claimed her own children to bring them to the U.S. legally.
“I stayed because I wanted the opportunity to be free because in Cuba after the revolution people were always watching and controlling you,” said Esmeralda. Different ways Cubans have immigrated to the U.S.
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