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 real 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 this situation is to file motion after motion requesting continuances, that is, postponements 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 outlook becomes very difficult.
"If the judge doesn't want to: one, they close the case. There's no way. You file motion after motion, you request a continuance or ask the court to delay the final decision a bit more to see if there's time for the residency to arrive, but if the judge refuses all of this, there's nothing that can be done," stated the lawyer.
In that scenario, the only alternative left is to defend an asylum case, 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 face a deportation order.”
The situation worsens if the immigrant hasn't even filed for asylum. "And if they don’t apply for asylum, then they also face a deportation order," Marcelo emphasized.
The lawyer points out that the outcome largely depends on geography. "It depends heavily on the judge and the jurisdiction," she specified. In the jurisdictions of Orlando and Miami, there is greater flexibility: some judges are setting final cut-off dates further out and closing cases when residency is granted. The situation is very different in other states.
"Texas and also New York are quite, quite tough in these circumstances with CBP ONE," Marcelo warned, describing the courts' reluctance to grant additional time.
This situation occurs in a context of residency approvals for Cubans being virtually halted, with a drop of 99.8% between February 2025 and January 2026.
When asked if she had recently received any approved residences, Marcelo replied bluntly, "Nothing more than this one I'm telling you about the young couple," referring to just one young couple whose case has just been resolved.
The overload of the courts further exacerbates the problem. Marcelo describes mass 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 react.
The CBP One program was canceled by the Trump Administration in January 2025, leaving thousands of Cubans with parole in a state of immigration uncertainty. According to ICE data, around 42,000 Cubans have a deportation order issued by a judge but are not yet in custody.
Marcelo also pointed out that some judges are setting final hearing dates for late 2026 or even 2027, which leaves very little time for preparation.
"There are some judges who are pushing the final court dates a bit further out, while others are scheduling them a little closer to 2027, towards the end of 2026. So there is very little time to prepare."
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