Cubans who entered the United States through the CBP One program and have active cases in Immigration Courts are facing a legal crossroads: the asylum applications they submitted on their own for protection may become a greater obstacle than an advantage. This warning comes from John Dutton, an attorney at John Dutton Law PLLC, in Houston, Texas, in an interview with Tania Costa for CiberCuba.
"When clients come to us, many of them have already applied for asylum on their own in order to protect themselves, which is also understandable," Dutton explained.
The problem arises when those cases progress to merit or final hearings. At that point, the firm chooses to withdraw the asylum application before a judge declares it frivolous.
"Our plan has been: 'We are going to withdraw this asylum because it is going nowhere and we don't want this to be seen as a frivolous asylum claim, which could even lead us to lose the right to appeal and forfeit all benefits,'" he stated.
A frivolous asylum claim has serious consequences: it eliminates the right to appeal and closes the door to other future immigration benefits.
Instead of insisting on asylum, the firm's strategy is redirected towards the arguments of parole and the client's eligibility for status adjustment under the Cuban Adjustment Act before USCIS.
"Basically, we remove those asylum claims to prevent the person from being found with a frivolous asylum application and instead focus on the parole arguments and the argument that they are eligible for alternative immigration relief with USCIS, in this case, Cuban Adjustment," Dutton summarized.
"Individual hearings for people from Cuba CBP-1 are already taking place in Houston, and if we still manage to secure some closures in conjunction with DHS, very few, because they hardly respond," he stated.
Dutton also identified a pattern based on the applicant's profile. "I have particularly noticed a trend when it involves families or children. In those cases, I have seen a tendency, in some judges, to close the courts, but when it comes to solo individuals, young people, etc., that closure is not achieved with some judges during the individual hearing."
Regarding the wait times for status adjustment interviews with USCIS, Dutton explained that after the pause that affected several nationalities — including Cuba — which was overturned by a court in June 2026, appointments were reactivated, albeit with delays.
«With the pause of these appointments for people who were included in these restrictions for these nationalities, we did see a delay; they were obviously on hold, but now they have been reactivated. What I have noticed lately is between 6 and 8 months," he indicated.
It is estimated that there are between 348,000 and 355,000 pending Adjustment Law cases at USCIS, highlighting the extent of the wait.
The most concerning outlook for the firm, however, goes beyond the waiting times. A member of their team, Johan de Rojas, warned about the tightening of scrutiny in status adjustment interviews.
"The situation is concerning, and what scares me the most is what is happening with these status adjustment applications," he noted, referring to the current government's directive to review each application point by point with greater rigor and not allow corrections or additions. If something is missing or there is an error, the case is dismissed.
De Rojas predicted that the interviews will increasingly focus on analyzing each point in depth, which he considers a warning sign for the thousands of Cubans waiting for their turn.
Los casos de cubanos con CBP One en Cortes de Inmigración siguen evolucionando. Sigue de cerca todas las novedades sobre visas, asilo y procesos migratorios en nuestra sección de
To contact bad lawyer John Dutton, from Texas:
https://www.emigrandousa.com
Teléfono 713 359 9302
WhatsApp 832 702 0225
Email info@houston-immigration.com
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