cubancriminal

My wife, our toddler and I applied for GE, and both my wife and I listed Cuba under the countries we'd visited in the last 5 years. We took a quick trip there from the Caribbean 4 years ago. We didn't bring anything back and have never been stopped at Customs. I researched the forums and found many examples of people saying their interviewers didn't care about their Cuba passport stamps and such, so I figured it was best to be honest even though I highly doubt they would even have known since we didn't fly from Canada.

We were all conditionally approved and got our interviews. At the interview, toddler gets approved, but both my wife and I are told that without OFAC paperwork authorizing our trip, we are denied. My officer tells me not to worry, that I should simply appeal the decision, that he actually would've just approved it himself but he didn't have that power. He says he's seen much worse things get successfully appealed, and he advised me that I should definitely e-mail the Ombudsman as opposed to writing a letter. He said "I can't guarantee anything, but pretty much it'll get approved, it's just going to take like 4 or 6 months to hear back."

He said to include a nice long explanation, citing the fact that I have no arrests or other customs/immigration violations, that I didn't realize that it wasn't OK to go to Cuba, and that I'll likely get approved. He said there's one person who handles all appeals for the entire US. And he took my fingerprints and picture, saying if it gets approved I wouldn't have to come back for another interview.

The officer helping my wife was not as friendly nor optimistic. I take what my officer said with a grain of salt, not sure how much he really knows. Wondering if anybody has successfully appealed a denial due to a trip to Cuba? Also what are my odds for getting approved for TSA Precheck if I apply for that now while I wait for my appeal?

We're concerned we may be blacklisted forever due to being honest, and if we had waited 1 more year we wouldn't have even had to list Cuba at all. Plus things have really relaxed in terms of visiting Cuba now so I wonder if that might make a difference in our appeal. Of course I understand at the end of the day it was an unauthorized trip, and GE is for people who would never do that, I suppose. But I don't think any reasonable person would think we pose a threat of the type they're trying to stop.

Thanks for any advice.