A quirk in immigration law has allowed hundreds of Cuban criminals to be set free onto U.S. streets every year because the Communist nation won't take them back,
the Washington Times reports.
The releases are known as "Zadvydas cases" after a 2001 Supreme Court ruling that said the government can't detain immigrants indefinitely if their native nation won't take them back.
Cuba, China and Vietnam regularly top the list, but even some countries that are supposed to close U.S. partners, like Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, also balk at taking back the nationals America is trying to boot, the Times reports.
Citing statistics U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement provided to the House Judiciary Committee, the newspaper reports Cuba refused to take back 878 criminals last year and rejected nearly 400 through the first eight months of the current fiscal year.
Vietnam refused 331 criminals in 2014, though it has rejected the return of only 44 criminals so far this year.
In total, the U.S. government released 2,457 criminals and 461 non-criminal illegal immigrants onto the streets last year because of the Zadvydas strictures, the Times reports. This year, the totals through May 9 were 1,107 criminals and 344 noncriminals, it reports.
"The Zadvydas problem is an urgent one, considering that a large percentage of the most serious criminal alien releases are Zadvydas," Jessica Vaughan, policy studies director at the Center for Immigration Studies, tells the newspaper.
"Given the obvious public safety risks, the administration should be more aggressive in seeking a solution or in using the tools available to them."
She told the Times the Obama administration's effort to normalize relations with Cuba would be a perfect time to fix the flaw.
"It’s the best chance in decades to push Cuba to be more cooperative."
Aside from Cuba, the U.S. has problems booting citizens from a number of other countries; 12 refused the return of at least 70 of their citizens in 2014, the Times reports.
Ironically, three Central American countries are poised to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in aid among them to try to stem a surge of their citizens entering the United States illegally, the newspaper reports; among them, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador refused 127 criminals and 145 noncriminals in 2014.
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