Luis Posada Case

A story in the Miami Herald (Oct. 30) “No U.S. appeal means no Posada extradition” by Alfonso Chardy reports that

Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles no longer needs to worry about whether the U.S. government intends to deport him to Venezuela, his adoptive country. The 30-day deadline to appeal an immigration judge’s Sept. 26 ruling against Posada’s removal to the South American country expired Wednesday; the federal government did not appeal the decision, Posada’s lawyers said Thursday. This means that unless the Bush administration finds a third country willing to take Posada or pursues Venezuela’s extradition request in federal court, Posada is now virtually guaranteed permanent protection in the United States. Deportation to Cuba, Posada’s country of birth, was ruled out earlier. U.S. officials had no comment on the lack of appeal, but noted that the immigration judge ordered Posada removed — albeit neither to Venezuela or Cuba. ”The immigration judge has ordered that Mr. Posada be removed from the United States,” said Dean Boyd, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman. “ICE intends to carry out that order.” `Relieved’ Posada, held at an immigration facility in El Paso, Texas, told one of his attorneys Thursday that he was ”very happy and relieved” that the U.S. government did not appeal the judge’s order. Matthew Archambeault, a Posada attorney in the Coral Gables immigration law firm of Eduardo Soto, said his client was now looking forward to being released.

For more, see http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/13017715.htm

Does foreign policy ever enter into these types of decisions?  🙂

KJ