The approval rate for Cuban applicants seeking US permanent residency fell to 23.7% in April–June 2026, down from 52.6% in the previous quarter, as federal immigration authorities denied most of the cases they decided, according to government data.
The figures come as the Trump administration steps up scrutiny of legal immigration applications and expands the discretion available to immigration officers. However, the data do not establish that the administration’s policy changes alone caused the decline. The administration’s adjustment-of-status policy is facing a legal challenge.
On May 21, USCIS issued a policy memorandum on adjustment of status and discretion. A lawsuit filed on October 5 in federal court in Massachusetts challenges the May memorandum and a separate August policy allowing officers to deny certain applications lacking required initial evidence without first issuing a Request for Evidence or Notice of Intent to Deny.
The agency described adjustment of status as a matter of discretion and “administrative grace”, saying people temporarily present in the US should generally return to their home countries to pursue consular processing, except in extraordinary circumstances. The administration says its approach is intended to strengthen immigration enforcement and restore what it considers the original intent of immigration law.
USCIS’s next quarterly report, covering July–September 2026, will offer a further indication of how approval and denial patterns are changing under the administration’s policies. The April–June figures predate the August guidance and cannot show its effects.
