04/03/2025
Prayer request and update on the Cuban and other immigrant families who we work with.
It occurred to us after talking with some friends, that many people may have not been informed on the new immigration policy and how it is affecting immigrants and refugees, so we wanted to do a short update.
About half to 3/4 of our Cuban church received emails from the government that the parole program has been canceled, and their work permit, social security and driver's license have been revoked. They will also have to leave the country by at least April 24th or be deported.
Paroles are people living in the United States LEGALLY, who have a financial sponsor already living here in the US. Many immigrants are sponsored by Americans who want to volunteer to help immigrant families, or many are sponsored by family members who arrived here through asylum. For example, a Cuban father moves to America legally as an asylee and gains citizenship after five years and then sponsors his family to come to the United States. This is very common for Cubans and as you can see, many families are separated through this process for multiple years. Most of us cannot imagine having to make a decision to be separated from our families for years at a time, but these are the great lengths that so many choose to go through out of their dire circumstances to make it to the United States.
The purpose of the immigration parole program is humanitarian, used for individuals facing persecution, natural disasters, war, danger, and other dire situations. For Cubans, it allows many Cuban families to be reunified with family members who fled the communist country, which is called the Cuban Family Reunification Program.
The cancellation of this program will affect 532,000 paroles currently living in the United States, who have been in the program since 2022. Along with Cubans, this includes Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans. All of them are facing deportation. In so many cases that we know of, families have spent all they have and have even gone into debt out of desperation to reunite their families. This would include selling all they have in Cuba, so they have nothing to go back to and of course they must face the same conditions which forced them to flea Cuba in the first place.
Also, if you haven’t heard, the United States is no longer allowing refugees to enter this country. This would include refugees who had already been accepted into the US but are not yet here. Their process has been canceled. This would include many Afghans that we know who have been desperately trying to get their loved ones out of Afghanistan.
All government funding for ministries, non-profits, and resettlement agencies that help refugees have been stopped. Resettling refugees is no more for now and this could be long-term, but no one knows at this point.
You can only imagine what the immigrants whom you have loved and supported through our work and through the work of so many other non-profits, are going through in this moment. It is always a good practice to try to put yourself into the shoes of other people, made in the image of God, including our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Among the list of incredible stressful circumstances these families must face, the biggest of all is the separation of families that can last years. There is only one word I can use to describe how these families may be feeling right now. DEVASTATED.
We ask for your prayers for these families, and we ask that you love and show kindness to the immigrants around you in your own life.
Thank you for reading.
In Him,
Kyle and Melissa Jenkins
