Repatriated Cubans Who Landed On Bridge Piling Expected Back Soon

Repatriated Cubans Who Landed On Bridge Piling Expected Back Soon
Wed May 3, 8:07 AM ET

The Cuban government is expected to grant exit visas to 15 Cubans who
fled the country, landed on an abandoned bridge piling in the Florida
Keys and were returned to their homeland.

The migrants' case drew attention after the
U.S. Coast Guard decided that the piling they landed on did not
constitute dry land.

But a federal judge in February ordered U.S. officials to use their best
efforts to help the Cubans return to the country.

In January, the Coast Guard rescued the Cubans from a piling holding up
a section of the old Seven Mile Bridge. They had rafted their way from Cuba.

Under the "wet foot, dry foot" policy, Cubans who reach U.S. soil are
generally allowed to stay, while those intercepted at sea are generally
repatriated.

But the part of the old bridge piling that the Cubans touched is no
longer connected to land.

Attorneys for the family of the Cubans sent back argued that the Coast
Guard acted unreasonably in its interpretation of U.S. immigration policy.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/wplg/20060503/lo_wplg/3441302