Appeal of Haitian Refugee Order Left to Justice Dept. : Immigration: White House does not immediately challenge judge on HIV-infected residents of Cuba camp. Flights to U.S. planned.

The Clinton Administration said Wednesday that it would not immediately challenge a federal court ruling allowing entry into the United States of about 150 Haitian refugees infected with the AIDS virus who are currently detained at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The decision raises the prospect that hospitals and social service agencies--particularly in Florida, New York and Boston--may have to bear their costs of treatment, although attorneys who won Tuesday’s ruling said that most refugees are not now suffering from full-blown AIDS and may be able to live for years before requiring major health services.

The White House announced that it would not seek to stay the order of U.S. District Judge Sterling Johnson Jr. of New York. Instead, Justice Department officials will review the case for a possible appeal later.

An eventual appeal would not affect the current refugees, however, because once a person has been granted U.S. entry--for whatever reason--he generally can remain for years, even if challenged, through time-consuming legal appeals, some private attorneys said.

One Justice Department official, declining to permit use of his name, said he is certain Johnson’s order will be appealed by the government. “This is the first time a court has interjected itself into a process set up by the executive branch of government outside the jurisdiction of the United States,” the official said.

At the White House, Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers told reporters: “We’re going to comply with the judge’s ruling.” She said that U.S. policy toward HIV-infected Haitian refugees predated the Clinton Administration and “we thought under the circumstances it was prudent to continue doing what we were doing, which was reviewing the cases one at a time.”

As a result of the court ruling, however, “the people in Guantanamo will be . . . brought into the United States” on military flights in coming weeks, Myers said.

During last year’s presidential campaign, Clinton said that he would seek to eliminate an immigration rule forbidding those infected with the AIDS virus to enter the country. Clinton said recently, however, that he will sign legislation Congress approved earlier this year that maintains the immigration ban.

Suzanne Shende, an attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which won the court ruling, said Johnson was not seeking to reverse the measure passed by Congress. The legislation bans only those people seeking permanent residency in this country, she said, while the Haitian refugees covered by Johnson’s order will be admitted because they have been cleared to receive political asylum.

The Haitians must apply for renewal of their asylum within a year, Shende said. But she added: “We all hope that Jean-Bertrand Aristide will be restored as the head of Haiti’s government and these people can eventually return to their homeland.”

Johnson previously ordered the U.S. government to release 51 Haitians with full-blown AIDS to the United States for treatment. His latest action involving persons less sick with the AIDS virus followed a two-week trial resulting from a lawsuit filed last year.

Shende and other attorneys said that most of the refugees would be united with relatives, friends or church sponsors in South Florida, New York or Boston, where there are sizable Haitian communities. But a small number also may be resettled in other cities, including Seattle, they said.

Times staff writers Mike Clary in Miami and Marlene Cimons in Washington contributed to this story.