In Miami, deportation fears rise as U.S. revives relations with Havana

In Miami, deportation fears rise as U.S. revives relations with Havana
By Nora Gámez Torres and Alfonso Chardy -
achardy@elnuevoherald.com

01/03/2015 6:50 PM
| Updated: 01/03/2015 7:05 PM

President Barack Obama’s order to normalize relations with Cuba has spread fear through the ranks of thousands of Cuban exiles facing deportation to the island.

Many of those who have never become U.S. citizens now believe their removal, a remote possibility before, may now be imminent. Immigration authorities say there are 34,525 Cubans with final orders of deportation and an additional 2,264 with pending removal cases in immigration court. Under U.S. immigration law, foreign nationals can be deported if they have a final order of deportation, meaning the order has withstood appeals and other legal challenges. Foreigners with pending cases in immigration court generally cannot be deported.

While U.S. officials say they have not changed policies barring deportation of most Cubans to the island, those assurances are small comfort for the people in the midst of proceedings or who have final orders of expulsion.

“I became worried the day they ordered me deported,” said Luis, a 73-year-old exile who in the 1960s participated in covert U.S. operations against the Fidel Castro regime. “But now, when the president in the White House wants relations with Cuba, my worries are much deeper.”

The majority of the 34,525 Cubans with final deportation orders received them after having been convicted for a serious crime. Luis spent two years in prison for a drug-related conviction in the 1980s.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article5388627.html#storylink=cpy