Hecate,
I don't think that the adjudicator of the I-485 is the one who decides to put the applicant on hold. I think the adjudicator of the asylum application is the one who adds notes in the systems so that any future application will be linked to those notes.
I still have 2 questions for you
1. Did they link your I-589 to your I-485 t In my case I also put nothing in my I-485 and they sent me RFE "Request for evidence" but when I got my FOIA "Freedom of Information Act" my asylum was linked with my I-485 application, so may be you should check you asylum documents may be they linked your asylum document with your I-485, but any ways, as you can see how unorganized and ignorant they are based on that it is possible they may have mistakenly done some thing wrong to your file, I was told by human rights attorney, (who are the most closely linked with our situation and perhaps the only lawyers with knowledge in our issues) nothing can be done but wait patiently until your exemption. The court how ever does not have the responsibility to adjudicate your case but to ask USCIS for your decision in certain amount of time normally 60 days or 30 otherwise if it deems reasonable, upon which USCIS blackmails the plaintiff for denial based on nonavailability of exemption weather required or not required in certain cases, it is not the authority of court to ask for adjudication, however I believe if we continue to fight and take denial we do however have another option to seek justice based on wrongful denial, in such instances USCIS has mostly lost the cases as they were not able to proof such charges against the plaintiff. Unfortunately there is no justice and it is frustrating for both of us and all the others, it would be taking a shot weather the judge will be fair or not (no further comments).
Did you talk to any attorney and have you requested the FOIA from USCIS, by the way FOIA normally does not cost anything and it has some valuable information, I would suggest one must not hire an attorney without FOIA in cases like ours.
2. When you filed for FOI, did they send you the assessment that the asylum officer wrote for your asylum approval? If yes, did he/she mention anything about hold on future applications?