Posted on Tue, Jan. 10, 2006
Shipped back to Cuba on a technicality
OUR OPINION: U.S. WRONG TO REPATRIATE 15 CUBANS FOUND IN KEYS
The Department of Homeland Security was wrong to repatriate 15 Cubans picked up in the Florida Keys last week. DHS officials decided that the location where the Cubans were found did not qualify as U.S. territory under immigration law. Yet that flies in the face of common sense and of DHS's own explanation of the ''wet-foot, dry-foot'' policy that determines the fate of Cubans fleeing by boat.
Diverting resources
The incident also illustrates DHS's skewed priorities: DHS officials who split hairs over technicalities to deny Cubans U.S. entry only divert resources from real national-security threats, such as terrorists and other violent criminals.
Under the wet-foot, dry-foot policy, Cubans who reach dry land generally may stay and, after a year, are eligible for U.S. residency under the Cuban Adjustment Act. Cubans who are interdicted at sea -- like those mechanical wizards who traveled in a pontoon-fitted Chevy truck -- are deemed wet-foot and generally repatriated. The exceptions are interdicted Cubans who persuade DHS that they are fleeing persecution and are resettled in a third country.
In the case at hand, 15 Cubans -- including a 2-year-old and a 13-year-old -- crossed the Florida Straits in what one relative described as a ''rustic boat.'' They ended up stranded under a piling of the old Seven Mile Bridge just south of Marathon. There, they were picked up by the Coast Guard, a DHS agency, last Wednesday. The Coast Guard's own website says that those who ''touch U.S. soil, bridges, piers or rocks'' are considered dry-foot and subject to U.S. immigration processes -- meaning that dry-foot Cubans, who are eligible for legal status, may remain in the United States.
The piling on which the Cubans stood is a part of an old bridge that has been used as a pier and appears to be set into a rock. In fact, the Cubans were not in the water, and their feet remained dry. If the foundation of a piling under an old U.S. bridge in U.S. waters between Florida Keys is not U.S. territory, what is it?
Ah, according to DHS officials, it is something else because that particular part of the bridge isn't connected to land. On this technicality, 15 Cubans were deemed wet-foot and repatriated yesterday.
Acts of repudiation
Back in Cuba, the families likely will return to homes stripped of all valuables. They will have no jobs and be subjected to acts of repudiation; some may even be jailed.
Lawyers for their Miami relatives plan to file legal challenges, arguing that the Cubans were improperly repatriated and should be brought back to the United States. Good. Perhaps court scrutiny of DHS practices may get the agency to focus on real national-security threats instead of absurd technicalities.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/13588495.htm
Shipped back to Cuba on a technicality
OUR OPINION: U.S. WRONG TO REPATRIATE 15 CUBANS FOUND IN KEYS
The Department of Homeland Security was wrong to repatriate 15 Cubans picked up in the Florida Keys last week. DHS officials decided that the location where the Cubans were found did not qualify as U.S. territory under immigration law. Yet that flies in the face of common sense and of DHS's own explanation of the ''wet-foot, dry-foot'' policy that determines the fate of Cubans fleeing by boat.
Diverting resources
The incident also illustrates DHS's skewed priorities: DHS officials who split hairs over technicalities to deny Cubans U.S. entry only divert resources from real national-security threats, such as terrorists and other violent criminals.
Under the wet-foot, dry-foot policy, Cubans who reach dry land generally may stay and, after a year, are eligible for U.S. residency under the Cuban Adjustment Act. Cubans who are interdicted at sea -- like those mechanical wizards who traveled in a pontoon-fitted Chevy truck -- are deemed wet-foot and generally repatriated. The exceptions are interdicted Cubans who persuade DHS that they are fleeing persecution and are resettled in a third country.
In the case at hand, 15 Cubans -- including a 2-year-old and a 13-year-old -- crossed the Florida Straits in what one relative described as a ''rustic boat.'' They ended up stranded under a piling of the old Seven Mile Bridge just south of Marathon. There, they were picked up by the Coast Guard, a DHS agency, last Wednesday. The Coast Guard's own website says that those who ''touch U.S. soil, bridges, piers or rocks'' are considered dry-foot and subject to U.S. immigration processes -- meaning that dry-foot Cubans, who are eligible for legal status, may remain in the United States.
The piling on which the Cubans stood is a part of an old bridge that has been used as a pier and appears to be set into a rock. In fact, the Cubans were not in the water, and their feet remained dry. If the foundation of a piling under an old U.S. bridge in U.S. waters between Florida Keys is not U.S. territory, what is it?
Ah, according to DHS officials, it is something else because that particular part of the bridge isn't connected to land. On this technicality, 15 Cubans were deemed wet-foot and repatriated yesterday.
Acts of repudiation
Back in Cuba, the families likely will return to homes stripped of all valuables. They will have no jobs and be subjected to acts of repudiation; some may even be jailed.
Lawyers for their Miami relatives plan to file legal challenges, arguing that the Cubans were improperly repatriated and should be brought back to the United States. Good. Perhaps court scrutiny of DHS practices may get the agency to focus on real national-security threats instead of absurd technicalities.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/13588495.htm
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