The Nation - News from April 11, 1988

In the four months since Cuban detainees rioted at two federal prison facilities and won assurances that their immigration cases would be reviewed individually, authorities have reviewed 2,897 cases nationwide, releasing 730 detainees, approving 1,158 for release and denying release to 1,009. An additional 1,189 detainees await review, immigration authorities said, and these cases are expected to be completed by the end of June. Those who have been approved for release but remain in detention are waiting to move in with a relative or into a halfway house. More than 3,800 Cubans were detained throughout the United States when riots erupted among those held in Oakdale, La., and Atlanta over an agreement that allows deportation of some of the Cubans who arrived in the Mariel boatlifts of 1980.