Receiving a deportation order does not mean all is lost, but the window for action is narrow: 30 calendar days to file an appeal with the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). This was explained by immigration attorney Liudmila Marcelo in an interview with Tania Costa, where she outlined step by step what someone in that situation should do.
"You have the deportation order. Yes, you have 30 days to appeal that deportation order. So the first step is to submit the appeal to the BIA. That's the first thing," Marcelo pointed out.
That initial document does not require an exhaustive legal argument. According to the lawyer, two or three paragraphs explaining briefly why the judge is believed to have made an error in issuing the order is sufficient. What matters is to meet the formal requirements and submit it within the deadline.
One of the most immediate obstacles is the cost. Filing an appeal with the BIA currently costs $1,030, a drastic increase from the $130 that was previously charged. "We continue to see money as one of the main characters in these stories, because prices are rising, and as more people appeal, more individuals are going to need to pay one thousand thirty dollars," Marcelo commented with irony.
Once that initial document is submitted, a waiting phase begins. The BIA sends what is called a Brief Schedule: the deadline for submitting a more comprehensive legal argument, based on the events that occurred during the hearing and the applicable law. The goal is to convince the BIA to vacate the order or to remand it to the judge for consideration of the evidence rather than having dismissed it.
"The BIA must either rescind that deportation order or refer it back to the judge so that the judge can analyze the evidence, or proceed with the examination of the evidence, not dismiss it before starting," explained the attorney.
Resolution times are long. Although in exceptional cases the brief has arrived in a few months, Marcelo noted that "the BIA order generally takes two years, two and a half years, and even up to three." While the appeal is pending, the execution of the deportation order is automatically suspended.
There is a point that the attorney considers critical, especially for Cubans: the question of voluntary departure. In the final immigration hearings, where the government is systematically filing motions to dismiss asylum cases without reviewing the evidence, the first thing the judge asks is whether the applicant wishes to opt for that departure. "And this is where Cubans need to be vigilant," Marcelo warned.
Accepting voluntary departure prevents a formal deportation order, but it may trigger inadmissibility bars ranging from three to ten years and does not guarantee re-entry to the United States. Those who fail to comply with the voluntary departure deadline granted by the judge are automatically subject to a removal order and may lose eligibility for certain immigration benefits for ten years.
The context in which this warning arises is particularly adverse. The Department of Justice has instructed immigration prosecutors to ask judges to dismiss asylum cases with only a superficial review of the file. Marcelo reported having faced four decisions of this kind just in September 2026, including one case that had nearly 800 pages of evidence, which the judge attempted to review in two minutes.
For those who have already received an order, the appeal to the BIA remains the most advisable way to continue fighting the case, as long as action is taken within those first 30 days.
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