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Will the Mariel Cubans Be Released?

By Jeralyn, Section Civil Liberties
Posted on Fri Jan 14, 2005 at 05:13:50 AM EST
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Despite the Supreme Court's ruling that the U.S. cannot continue to indefinitely detain persons who have been ordered deported but whose home countries won't take them back, some experts wonder whether Immigrations and Customs will comply with the ruling. Mark Dow, author of American Gulag: Inside America's Immigration Prisons, notes in the comments to our post,

The question remains: Who will make sure the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will comply with the law?

The recent Mariel ruling was based on the court's 2001 ruling in Zadvydas v. Davis that the government could not detain certain legal immigrants indefinitely, but a May 2004 study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded that the immigration service has failed to comply fully with that ruling. Some 2000 immigrants effected by the new ruling are scattered in jails and prisons around the country. Congress must immediately establish an independent body to ensure that ICE complies with the new -- and old -- laws.

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    Will the Mariel Cubans Be Released? | 18 comments (18 topical)
    Re: Will the Mariel Cubans Be Released? (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 14, 2005 at 05:09:41 AM EST
    So, I am a bit confused. They aren't supposed to be wandering around the US, Cuba doesn't want them back for various reasons (my Cuban friends assure me that the remaining Marialanos are criminals and nut cases, YMMV, I have no direct knowledge).... So what exactly are we supposed to do with them? -C

    Re: Will the Mariel Cubans Be Released? (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 14, 2005 at 06:00:32 AM EST
    I have a grumpy old man solution. Put them on an airplane, fly it to Cuba, tell Cuba we are landing, or else. We then land, kick'em off and leave. You know, after a few years, some of this BS wears thin.

    Re: Will the Mariel Cubans Be Released? (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 14, 2005 at 06:56:48 AM EST
    It seems to me that Jama may eviscerate the already toothless Zadvydas decision. Don't get me wrong, I think Zadvydas SHOULD have teeth, but it doesn't in practice. ICE regularly refuses to release my clients even after six months of post-order detention, even when the consulate hasn't responded to requests for a travel document to send the person home. When I file a habeas now -- one of the only ways to "enforce" Zadvydas --some judges refuse to grant release if ICE so much as attests that a travel document is "reasonably forthcoming." And the Headquarters Post-Order Detention Unit are a bunch of rotten anuses. Somebody should investigate how they have refused to comply with Zadvydas. If ICE doesn't have to get a travel document after Jama (but they probably will, for diplomatic reasons), then maybe nationals of countries we aren't friendly with won't have to wait so long to be deported. The downside would be that nobody could get out on habeas to say goodbye to their families, etc., and some people certainly fear return to their home countries, but most of my clients beg me to get ICE to remove them after several months sitting in an ICE-contracted criminal jail.

    Re: Will the Mariel Cubans Be Released? (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 14, 2005 at 07:21:18 AM EST
    Sounds like, for what we're paying to incarcerate during red tape, we could set them all up at a Beachfront resort in Cancun.

    Re: Will the Mariel Cubans Be Released? (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 14, 2005 at 07:34:01 AM EST
    The court is insane but it is what it is, not of the people and that will lead to civil and race war. If you really are someone who cares about people help people to remove evil governments but what is an evil government? IS China an evil government in your mind? is mexico an evil government in your mind? is bin laden evil in your mind? this is the question that should be asked of our system! it is a world of people it is a World of Cultures, and ask what is government, And what it means about what it thinks of Citizenship? When you hear Bush, think open and new Americans(97% Third world people) and the word Empire and no rights to life its self and think. Don't be sheeple, read Howard Zinn for the real ideals of what the empire is and is not, it is about rights and the court can't understand that fact.

    Re: Will the Mariel Cubans Be Released? (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 14, 2005 at 07:51:08 AM EST
    No clue what you said Fred. None of your sentences makes even grammatical sense. It soulds like you're saying that we're "on the eve of destruction". I hope you aren't stockpiling for the revolution!

    Re: Will the Mariel Cubans Be Released? (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 14, 2005 at 07:56:57 AM EST
    Peter James - So, what happens to your clients if they are released? They just walk out? Do they walk back in when it's time? What do they do in the meantime to live, being without the legal right to work and all that? -C

    Re: Will the Mariel Cubans Be Released? (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 14, 2005 at 08:22:39 AM EST
    mfox writes - "we could set them all up at a Beachfront resort in Cancun." An excellent observation. Problem is, with their criminal backgrounds, Mexico wouldn't let'em in. Maybe we can hire some Coyotes to take'em in. No need for them to make a return trip empty. et al - Another grumpy old man solution. Take to Gitmo, walk'em up to the gate exiting the base, and push through.

    Re: Will the Mariel Cubans Be Released? (none / 0) (#9)
    by Quaker in a Basement on Fri Jan 14, 2005 at 09:22:22 AM EST
    Too bad Janet Reno's not still in office. The detainees' attention-hungry, anti-Castro relatives would be lining up to demand they be kept in the U.S.

    Re: Will the Mariel Cubans Be Released? (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 14, 2005 at 10:50:33 AM EST
    Cliff, My clients are usually released on an Order of Supervision, requiring them to report to deportation once a month, or once every three months. If they don't show up, they get put on the absconder list, and usually an agent will try to find them at their last known addresses. I've only have one client ever fail to report. In the last few months, several ICE deportation offices have also started a program called ISAP, where the alien has to wear an ankle bracelet, and has a curfew and must report to ICE even more often, daily or weekly. This is probably the wave of the future, the aliens obviously prefer living with a relative than living in jail, and the program is certainly less expensive to the government than detention at $50 a day. The only way to get release for an alien who has been ordered deported is to file an affidavit of support from a relative in the U.S. who is either a Citizen or green-card holder. The sponsor is responsible for the alien's room and board while they are on release, but I'm not going to claim that some don't work illegally. In some cases, where the alien's consulate doesn't issue a travel document, the alien can apply for work authorization, but won't always get it.

    Re: Will the Mariel Cubans Be Released? (none / 0) (#11)
    by jondee on Fri Jan 14, 2005 at 11:14:47 AM EST
    PPJ - They should make sure to send a message ahead first though; something like:"We come in peace - PLEASE dont kick our butts again."

    Re: Will the Mariel Cubans Be Released? (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 14, 2005 at 01:18:03 PM EST
    jondee - Not a bad idea. We could say something like: "Sorry we didn't liberate you last time, but the Lefties talked Kennedy out of it.

    Re: Will the Mariel Cubans Be Released? (none / 0) (#13)
    by kdog on Fri Jan 14, 2005 at 01:33:15 PM EST
    By "liberate" Jim, do you mean kill and destroy? Or to restore power to US business interests?

    Re: Will the Mariel Cubans Be Released? (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 14, 2005 at 02:39:01 PM EST
    what?

    Re: Will the Mariel Cubans Be Released? (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 14, 2005 at 03:08:37 PM EST
    kdog - Turn'em back over to the mob, I say. They'll never know the difference between the two adminostrations.

    Re: Will the Mariel Cubans Be Released? (none / 0) (#17)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 14, 2005 at 04:46:54 PM EST
    DA - Document this.

    Re: Will the Mariel Cubans Be Released? (none / 0) (#18)
    by Sailor on Fri Jan 14, 2005 at 05:24:16 PM EST
    Once again, PPJ come up with the ultimate argument. "Na na na naah na." Next?

    Re: Will the Mariel Cubans Be Released? (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Jan 16, 2005 at 09:13:56 PM EST
    PPJ will never cease to pull things out of a body cavity and tell us all that it's the "Truth", but perhaps he'll not be doing so quite as often, especially when challenged to present the 'facts' behind whatever "Truth" he decided to proclaim these days.

    Will the Mariel Cubans Be Released? | 18 comments (18 topical)