Deported Cubans May Return

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that 15 Cubans who landed at the old Seven Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys in January should have been allowed to remain in the United States.

In a strongly worded order, District Judge Federico Moreno called the Bush administration’s decision to repatriate the Cubans unreasonable and demanded that the Department of Homeland Security make its best efforts to bring the Cubans back to the United States for immigration proceedings.

Mercedes Hernandez, a U.S. citizen whose niece made it to the old bridge with her husband and 2 1/2 -year-old son, said the ruling was “the most beautiful gift life could have given” to her family.

Hernandez’s niece, reached at her home in the town of San Francisco de Paula about 90 minutes east of Havana, said the ruling had given her family hope.

“We’re very happy because this is what we wanted,” said Elizabeth Hernandez, 22.

The 15 Cubans were taken into custody Jan. 4 and sent back to Cuba a few days later.

Noting the historical significance of the Seven Mile Bridge, which was built in the early 1900s and is still owned by a state agency, Moreno said that landing on the abandoned bridge pilings was legally the same as coming ashore on U.S. soil.