Why thousands of Cubans have been ordered deported

Why thousands of Cubans have been ordered deported

Mariel As a rumor spread recently that federal immigration authorities
planned to round up Mariel refugees whose names appear on a deportation
list, people interested in the subject wondered why these people had
been marked for removal – a total of 2,746.

They also asked why an additional 29,000 Cubans who are not on the
Mariel list have been ordered deported over the years by U.S.
immigration judges.

While the specific records of each of the 31,746 Cuban nationals
marked for deportation are not public, immigration officials have said
that in the vast majority of cases the reason for removal is a criminal
conviction.

Under laws passed by Congress in 1996, any foreign national
convicted of an aggravated felony as defined by U.S. immigration law
must be placed in deportation proceedings – and immigration judges
generally order deportation of criminal convicts.

However, U.S. immigration authorities delay deportations if the
nationals' country of origin refuses to take them back. This is the case
of Cuba, which generally has refused to accept its nationals who have
been ordered deported by immigration judges in the United States.

Other countries also have refused to take their nationals back in
recent years, but the United States has continued to pressure those
nations to change policies. Not so in the case of Cuba, which has only
agreed to take back the specific individuals on the list of 2,746 Mariel
refugees marked for deportation.

Of the 2,746 people on the list, 1,694 have been repatriated,
according to figures released recently by U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement. An additional 61 people on the list have died since the
deportation agreement was reached with Cuba in 1984. This means that 991
Mariel Cubans on the list are still in the United States.

Officials say that a majority of the 2,746 are criminal convicts –
but that anywhere from 90 to 100 are patients with mental problems.

As for the 29,000 non-Mariel list Cubans ordered deported over the
years, again the majority have aggravated felonies in their records.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has said that the 29,000
includes more than 10,000 Cubans who arrived during the 1980 Mariel
boatlift but are not on the deportation list. The balance are non-Mariel
Cubans, also the majority with aggravated felony convictions.

Incidentally, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement – in response
to the roundup rumor – said there is no change in the deportation
arrangement.

"There has been no change regarding the removal of Cuban nationals
from the United States,'' said ICE spokesman Ivan Ortiz. "After the
Mariel boatlift mass migration in 1980, the U.S. and Cuban governments
agreed that 2,746 specific individuals would be returned to Cuba. To
date, 1,694 of those individuals have been returned; and we are aware
that an additional 61 have since died. As has been the case since the
1980s, when these individuals are encountered, they are deported.''

-- Alfonso Chardy

March 27, 2008

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