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| High Court to Consider Detention Case |
| By Washington Post |
| Published: 01/26/2004 |
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The Supreme Court announced last week that it will decide whether the federal government may indefinitely imprison hundreds of Cubans and other illegal immigrants who have finished their sentences for crimes in the United States but whose home countries cannot or will not take them back. In a brief order, the court said it would hear an appeal by Daniel Benitez, a convicted felon who came to the United States from Cuba during the 1980 Mariel Boatlift but was never given legal immigrant status. Benitez has been ordered out, but the Cuban government has refused to take him. He has been in U.S. custody for the past three years, with no end in sight. In 2001, the Supreme Court interpreted a 1996 immigration law as denying the government authority to hold any legal immigrant felon for more than six months, if deportation proved impossible. It was silent on the issue of illegal immigrants. Judith Rabinovitz, senior staff counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union Immigrant Rights Project, which supports Benitez, said the 2001 ruling should apply and that "he's being subjected to continued imprisonment without authority." The Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled against Benitez, deepening a split on the issue among federal appeals courts. Thus, the Bush administration also sought a Supreme Court ruling to settle the question. Under a 1984 agreement with the United States, Cuba agreed to take back 2,746 criminals and mentally ill people, of whom 1,646 have been returned so far. The long-term detainees include 920 Mariel Cubans who were not subject to the 1984 agreement and who, like Benitez, were never granted legal residency but committed crimes in the United States. Benitez was convicted of grand theft in Florida in 1983. As a result, he was denied an application for legal residence. In April 1993, he pleaded guilty to armed robbery, armed burglary and weapons violations, accepting a sentence of 20 years. Released from state prison in 2001, he was transferred to immigration authorities. The case is Benitez v. Wallis, 03-7434. The court ordered expedited consideration of the case, so oral arguments will take place in April and a decision is likely by July. |
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