Garcia initially immigrated legally to the U.S. in 1956 but returned to Cuba to find work in 1959. When he fled to the U.S. in 1962 without a visa, he was detained as an undocumented immigrant, and an immigration judge initially ordered him deported, but later the same day immigration officials had a "change of heart", resulting in status as a "parolee". The Times calls that status "a gray area of the law that meant he would not get a green card but could remain in the United States".
