Immigration Lawyer: Cuban Migrants 'Very Desperate' to Make it to U.S.

Immigration attorney Leon Fresco was quoted in a Spectrum News article about President Joe Biden's new program limiting the number of migrants from certain countries and how it could affect the number of people entering the U.S. illegally. This program will allow 30,000 migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti combined each month but will not accept those who cross illegally. Mr. Fresco said he's already had interest from clients, who have told him the situation in Cuba, for example, is "very desperate." He also commented on how the government could have difficulty sorting out cases for migrants seeking asylum.

"Everybody's trying to leave. The question is, how many people are leaving really because they're actually fleeing political oppression, as opposed to fleeing economic insecurity?" he said. "That's an issue that's sort of hard for the government to vet, which is why they've sort of thrown everybody into this new bucket up, trying to get people to apply for legal entrance through a parole program, rather than trying to have people flooding into the asylum system."

Mr. Fresco added that the program's success will depend on various factors, including the availability of a legal path for migrants.

"If these slots run out very quickly, then people will continue engaging in the behavior that the Biden Administration is trying to stop, which is to come through the ports of entry, because they don't have still that legal pathway available to them," he said.

READ: Immigration Lawyer: Cuban Migrants 'Very Desperate' to Make it to U.S.