The United States is freeing hundreds of Cuban criminals each year because Havana won't take them back, even as the Obama administration works to normalize relations with the country,
The Washington Times reported.
A 2001 Supreme Court ruling, Zadvydas v. Davis, determined that the government cannot detain immigrants beyond six months unless there is a compelling national security or public safety interest, regardless of whether their home countries are willing to take them back.
The countries that most often refuse to accept back their citizens are Cuba, China, and Vietnam, while other countries such as Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras are also in some cases refusing to accept immigrant criminals that the U.S. is trying to deport.
Cuba refused to take back 878 criminals last year and also rejected 400 in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, statistics from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency indicate, according to the Times. Vietnam takes second place, having refused 331 criminals in 2014, but this year has rejected just 44 criminals.
In total, the government released 2,457 criminals and 461 non-criminal illegal immigrants last year because of the Zadvydas ruling, the agency said. From January until May 9, 1,107 criminals and 344 noncriminals were released, the Times reported.
"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, told the Times.
"Given the obvious public safety risks, the administration should be more aggressive in seeking a solution or in using the tools available to them."
Analysts say that the time is right to try to raise the issue of Zadvydas refusals with the Cuban government given the president is trying to pursue a more open relationship.
"It's the best chance in decades to push Cuba to be more cooperative," Vaughan told the Times.
In 2014, 12 nations refused the return of their citizens. Liberia refused 85 criminals even as they accepted aid for the Ebola outbreak. And three Central American countries due to receive hundreds of millions of dollars of aid refused over 250 people, the Times said.
ICE, however, has said that Central American countries have been cooperative in trying to resolve cases, particularly since the surge of illegal immigrant children in the United States last year.
"Through relationship-building, consular pilot programs and regular engagement, timely issuance of travel documents has risen, as has the host governments' willingness and capacity to accept an increased amount of ICE air charter flights," an ICE spokeswoman, Sarah Rodriguez, told the Times.
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