Changes Weighed That Would Aid Cubans’ Efforts to Remain in U.S.

The Justice Department has “left the door open” and might make modifications in the newly created Mariel Cuban review process for 7,600 detainees that would give them a better chance to remain in this country, representatives for the Cubans said Friday.

Representatives for the detainees held discussions with State Department and Justice Department officials in what Bishop Agustin Roman of Miami described as “two beautiful meetings.”

Roman helped end the recent prison uprisings by Cuban inmates and detainees in Atlanta and Oakdale, La. The uprisings were triggered by a U.S.-Cuban agreement to resume an immigration pact reached in 1984 involving the Cubans, who arrived in the United States in the 1980 Mariel boatlift.

Plans for Some Deportations

The government gave no indication that it would shelve plans for deporting at least some of the 2,500 Cubans who are on a list compiled by immigration officials in 1984.

But in discussions with Deputy Atty. Gen. Arnold Burns and other Justice Department officials, “they said that . . . specifically the matter of (full-fledged administrative) hearings” for the detainees “would be taken under consideration,” said Robert Boyer, a lawyer who represents people involved in immigration cases.

Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III appeared at the Justice Department meeting and “gave us extra confidence that these matters and these suggested changes would be highly considered,” Boyer said.

The Justice Department unveiled a review process on Dec. 11, in response to the prison uprisings, to determine whether the 7,600 imprisoned Cubans should be released or returned to Cuba.