Immigration attorney Liudmila Marcelo issued an urgent warning for those with hearings in Miami immigration courts: if your appointment is at 8 or 8:30 in the morning, you should be present by six or six-thirty, or you risk arriving late to the courtroom and facing an immense line.
Marcelo shared in an interview with Tania Costa that he arrived at 7:30 AM for a hearing in Miami, and the three or four-story parking garage of the building was already completely full. "The line of people stretched all the way to a nearby hotel; it's incredible how many people there are," he described.
A judge from the Court confirmed the extent of the collapse. "Yesterday, for example, it was terrible here; my courtroom was filled with people, there was almost no room because with all these large 'master hearings' they're conducting with everyone, the Court just can't keep up."
The same judge, during another hearing that day, told several lawyers: "Let’s wait for your client then, because I imagine they are in line out there."
Marcelo's warning is straightforward: "If your court appointment is at 8 or 8:30 in the morning, don't expect to arrive by 7:30. You should plan to be there by 6 or 6:30 in the morning because if not, the line of people you will encounter will be quite long, and you won't have enough time to make it into the courtroom."
The collapse is due to an unprecedented saturation. According to data from TRAC as of July 27, 2026, the Miami-Dade Court had accumulated 137,373 pending cases, the highest number of any immigration court in the country. Nationally, the backlog exceeds 3.1 million active cases.
The so-called "mega master hearings" — hearings with 100 or more cases scheduled simultaneously — have become a common practice in an attempt to reduce backlogs, but they create extreme crowding and there is a real risk that individuals may arrive late and receive deportation orders in absentia.
The situation will worsen starting from September 8, when the Miami Court will eliminate virtual hearings via WebEx and will require strict in-person attendance for both Master and Individual hearings.
In the same program, Marcelo clarified a common point of confusion regarding the new rules for obtaining the green card that come into effect on September 18: Cubans under the Cuban Adjustment Act are not affected by the new public charge assessment.
"For the public charge, no, it does not affect them. Asylum seekers, refugees, and a long list of individuals, including VAWA and others, and among them the Cuban Adjustment Act, are not affected by the public charge," the lawyer specified.
However, there is a critical change that everyone should pay attention to: the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will release a new edition of Form I-485 effective September 18. “If you send the form with a date earlier than September 18, you run the risk of having the form returned completely,” Marcelo warned.
The exception applies to Cubans who are sponsored by a family member who is a citizen or who are sponsoring a family member. "There are some Cubans who need to pay attention to this public charge issue because they are the ones being requested by a family member who is a citizen or who are requesting a family member because they are citizens," he explained.
As a positive development, Marcelo highlighted that the Cuban Adjustment Act now allows for submitting residency applications online, which streamlines the process and prevents complications with the new payment system.
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