Imprisonment of ‘Mariel’ Cubans Upheld : Appeals Court Reverses Three Decisions, Backs Government

A federal appeals court has upheld the government’s authority to keep Cubans who arrived in the United States during the 1980 “Freedom Flotilla” boat lift in prison while limiting the prisoners’ claims to asylum.

In a ruling involving Cubans being held for deportation at the federal penitentiary in Atlanta and other prisons, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday threw out three rulings by U.S. District Judge Marvin Shoob.

The ruling said Shoob did not take into account “significant countervailing national concerns” that have put the authority to resolve such problems “squarely in the hands of the political branches” rather than the judiciary.

Not Optimistic

“I’m not surprised, but I am disappointed,” said Myron Kramer, one of the attorneys for the Cubans. “There had been rulings along the way that didn’t make me optimistic.”

The ruling will be appealed, Kramer said.

At issue was the legal status of 2,746 Cubans whom the Immigration and Naturalization Service has classified as subject to immediate deportation. The Cubans, most of them convicted of crimes committed after their arrival in the United States, were among 125,000 refugees who arrived in the boat lift from Cuba’s Mariel harbor.

INS Authority

The appeals court ruled that the INS has the authority to cancel paroles it granted to 34 Cubans whose releases were blocked in December when Cuba agreed to take back the aliens. Cuba suspended the deportation agreement in May. The INS has refused to allow those Cubans to be paroled, arguing that they might flee.

Although the appeals court said the government does not have to release any of the Cuban prisoners, authorities have said they were considering releasing some of them because the federal prison system is overcrowded.

The appeals court also overturned Shoob in two test cases in which he ruled that appeals for political asylum should be considered because all Mariel refugees were members of a “social class” that would face persecution if forced to return to Cuba.