Florida immigration attorney Liudmila A Marcelo has advised Cubans with I-220A forms not to allow the judge to close their cases, as those who have been in the United States for less than two years risk being detained upon leaving their hearing and facing expedited deportation.
"What is happening these days in the courts? People arrive for their hearings, some with a lawyer and others without. Regardless of whether they have representation or not, what the Department of Homeland Security is really doing right now is seeking for the case to be 'dismissed', to be withdrawn from the court. If you have been in the country for less than two years and the prosecutor says they will drop the charges and the judge agrees to the 'dismissed', you no longer have a case in court."
What happens, Liudmila Marcelo insists, is that "you have been here for less than two years, and then you become subject to expedited deportation. And there were ICE agents present. This didn't just happen in Miami; it took place in several states," she said in reference to the detention of I-220A immigrants this week after they left their hearing before the judge, following the dismissal of their case and the removal from court.
"My advice for those individuals who are currently attending court and have been in the country for less than two years is, whether they have asylum or not (I assume everyone must have asylum), that if they go to their asylum court, they should not allow the judge to accept the prosecutor's 'dismissed'. The prosecutor is going to request to drop the charges in this case. You must say no, I do not agree with the prosecutor dropping the charges. The prosecutor should please do it in writing so that I have time to respond in writing and appoint a lawyer."
"If the judge still grants the 'dismissed,' you say, but I want to reserve my appeal. And quickly, I mean, regardless of whether they arrest him or not, it will have to be his family who takes care of finding a lawyer for him," he added.
This was explained by Liudmila Marcelo in an interview she gave this Friday to CiberCuba to discuss Beatriz Monteagudo, the Cuban with I-220A, who was detained on March 10 when she went to an appointment with ICE in Miramar (Broward) and held for two months in a correctional facility in San Diego, California.
Marcelo took on the defense of Monteagudo altruistically and secured his freedom on a bail of $4,100 just days before the ruling of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) in the case Matter of Q. Li, 29 I&N Dec. 66 (BIA 2025) which would have made that bail impossible.
In the interview with CiberCuba, the lawyer also discussed the case of Cubans with criminal records who were deported to Sudan; she clarified questions about CBP One and Humanitarian Parole and made it clear what, in her opinion, the options are for Cubans with I-220A.
"Apply for your residency in court if you haven't done so, as this represents a step forward in case the judges have what they need in the future, which is confirmation that the I-220A is a parole. And if we reserve the appeal, the relief is presented there. That's one aspect, but we must not neglect the asylum case. We shouldn't invest all our hope in the residency case, as it depends on the judge's discretion and the government present that day in court. We cannot go into the final court armed with just one argument. We need to be well-prepared with both the residency and the asylum case because it becomes increasingly difficult to convince judges on the asylum case each day," he said before providing insights on how to prepare for an asylum claim.
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