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Ruling setting free hundreds of illegal immigrant convicts
Associated Press
Published February 16, 2005
MIAMI - About 200 refugees, including many who came to the United States in the 1980 Mariel boat lift, have been set free since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month that indefinite detention of illegal immigrants convicted of crimes is unconstitutional, officials said Tuesday.
Under most circumstances, illegal immigrants convicted of crimes are deported to their home countries upon completion of their sentences. But because the United States doesn't have formal diplomatic relations with Cuba's communist government, the federal government had been keeping Cuban illegals confined after their prison terms were over.
But the Supreme Court on Jan. 12 extended to illegal immigrants a ruling it had applied to legal immigrants in 2001: It is unconstitutional to detain immigrants who have completed their criminal sentences for more than a "reasonable period," generally six months.
Department of Homeland Security officials said they have identified 747 Cubans and 173 non-Cubans affected by the ruling, whose home countries have denied them re-entry.
An exact count of those released since the ruling is not available, said Manny Van Pelt, an agency spokesman; he estimated between 175 and 200.
Van Pelt said about 600 Mariel refugees who fall under the ruling remain in prisons and jails nationwide, along with more than 100 non-Cuban detainees. Most are expected to be released over the next few months.
"We're trying to work with the advocacy groups and the community groups to help these criminals' transition to the community," Van Pelt said. "We're hoping that the people in groups that champion the release of these criminals ... step forward."
The Supreme Court case involved two men who were part of the Mariel exodus, in which Cuban President Fidel Castro sent criminals and psychiatric patients to U.S. shores, along with thousands of other fleeing Cubans. Some were convicted of subsequent crimes in the United States.
Van Pelt said of the Cubans still in detention, 20 are in the Miami area and 74 are in the Orlando-Tampa area.
[Last modified February 16, 2005, 01:26:21]
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