Cubans who entered the United States through the CBP One program and have active cases in immigration court while awaiting approval for their residency face a genuine risk of deportation if the judge does not grant them more time, warns immigration attorney Liudmila Marcelo in an interview with Tania Costa for CiberCuba.
Marcelo explains that the only legal tool available in that situation is to file motion after motion requesting continuances, that is, extensions of the final court date, to buy time until the Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) approves the residency. However, if the judge systematically rejects those requests, the situation becomes very difficult.
"If the judge doesn't want to: one, they close it on you. There's no way. You file motion after motion, you request a continuance, meaning you ask to postpone the final court date a bit longer to see if there’s time for the residency to arrive, but if the judge refuses all of this, there's nothing you can do," the lawyer stated.
In that scenario, the only remaining option is to defend a case for asylum, but Marcelo warns that this option is not solid for many immigrants. "Many of these people who entered through CBP ONE, who are Cuban, do not have a strong asylum case and then they are faced with a deportation order."
The situation worsens if the immigrant has not even applied for asylum. "And if they don't apply for asylum, then a deportation order is looming over them as well," Marcelo emphasized.
The lawyer points out that the outcome largely depends on geography. "It depends a lot on the judge and the jurisdiction," she specified. In the jurisdictions of Orlando and Miami, there is greater flexibility: some judges are setting later final cutoff dates and closing cases when residency is granted. The situation is very different in other states.
"Texas and also New York are quite, quite strict under these circumstances of CBP ONE," alerted Marcelo, describing the courts' reluctance to grant additional time.
This situation occurs in a context of residency approvals for Cubans being virtually halted, with a decline of 99.8% between February 2025 and January 2026.
When asked if she had received any recently approved residences, Marcelo responded bluntly, "Nothing other than this one I'm telling you about the kids," referring to a single young couple whose case has just been resolved.
The overload of the courts further exacerbates the problem. Marcelo describes massive hearings where judges accumulate up to 100 cases in the morning and 80 in the afternoon, which slows down the entire process and leaves little room for the affected parties to respond.
The CBP One program was canceled by the Trump Administration in January 2025, leaving thousands of Cubans with parole in a state of migratory uncertainty. According to data from ICE, about 42,000 Cubans have a deportation order issued by a judge but are not yet in custody.
Marcelo also noted that some judges are setting final court dates for late 2026 or even 2027, which leaves very little room for preparation.
"There are some judges who are setting the final court dates a bit further out, while others are scheduling them a bit closer to 2027, towards the end of 2026. So there is very little time to prepare."
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