Deportation of Cubans Upheld
WASHINGTON — A Supreme Court justice refused Friday to block the deportation of thousands of Cuban refugees who entered the United States in 1980 as part of the so-called Mariel boatlift.
Justice William H. Rehnquist let stand a federal appeals court order that allows the government to begin deporting Cubans ineligible to stay in the United States on Feb. 8.
“This court is not in a position to second-guess” the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, Rehnquist said in a brief opinion released with his order.
The Reagan Administration and the Cuban government last Dec. 14 agreed to the return of 2,746 Cuban criminals and mental patients. About 1,600 of those refugees currently are imprisoned in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary.
The start of deportation proceedings had been held up by U.S. District Judge Marvin Shoob in Atlanta, but the appeals court set aside the effect of Shoob’s ruling.
Lawyers for the Cuban boat people then sought to set aside the appeals court’s order. At issue in the legal battle is the claim that the Cubans who fled the port of Mariel in 1980 have reason to fear official persecution if they are returned to their homeland.
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