Fifteen Cuban migrants repatriated to Cuba after landing on an abandoned bridge in the Florida Keys can return to the United States under a federal judge's order. But will Fidel Castro let them?

BY JAY WEAVER

A Miami federal judge on Tuesday ordered the U.S. government to make arrangements for 15 repatriated Cubans to be brought back to the United States after the judge ruled they landed on U.S. soil when they reached an abandoned bridge in the Florida Keys.

U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno found that the Cubans ''were removed to Cuba illegally'' in January after the U.S. Coast Guard wrongly concluded the old Seven Mile Bridge was not connected to the United States. Moreno's decision marks the first time the government has been ordered to allow Cubans into the United States after they've been repatriated to Cuba under the ''wet-foot, dry-foot'' policy.

Moreno gave the government a March 30 deadline to consider the Cubans' eligibility to obtain the appropriate federal documents to enter the United States. But the wild card in this extraordinary legal odyssey: Will Cuban leader Fidel Castro allow them to leave the island nation?

There is no guarantee.

Moreno's geographical finding was a critical point because under the government's decade-old policy, Cuban migrants who reach U.S. soil are allowed to stay and apply for residency, but those intercepted at sea are generally returned to Cuba.

The Keys bridge case exploded into a flash point for the exile community, which used it to confront the Bush administration's interpretation of the controversial policy.

The judge's finding only affects the 15 Cubans who reached the old Seven Mile Bridge -- not the government's overall wet-foot, dry-foot policy adopted by the Clinton administration.

JUDGE'S RULING

''The court finds that the historic bridge, which the state of Florida owns and pioneer Henry Flagler built to develop the tip of Florida, is indeed part of the United States despite its present lack of use,'' Moreno wrote in his 11-page ruling.

``Therefore, the Coast Guard's decision to remove those Cuban refugees back to Cuba was not a reasonable interpretation of present executive policy.''

The U.S. attorney's office declined to comment about the judge's order, issued late Tuesday. Prosecutors could appeal. The Coast Guard also declined comment.

One of the 15 Cuban migrants, Elizabeth Hernandez, 23, spoke with The Associated Press by telephone Tuesday evening from her family's home in Matanza.

''I am so happy,'' she said. ``I always had hope I would be able to return.''

Her aunt, who lives in Hialeah, expressed thanks to the Miami-Dade community and the lawyers who challenged the government's decision to return the Cubans to their homeland.

`UNFAIR'

''I'm hopeful that the entire group can be brought back to this country, because what was done to them was very unfair,'' Mercedes Hernandez Guerrero told reporters, gathered for a news conference in front of the Bay of Pigs monument in Little Havana.

``I cannot wait for them to be here.''

Ramón Saúl Sánchez, who launched a 12-day hunger strike in January to persuade the Bush administration to talk with Cuban exile leaders long upset by the wet-foot, dry-foot policy, praised the judge's ruling.

''The judge made a decision that was in the hearts of everyone in Miami,'' he said.

COULD TAKE MONTHS

The team of lawyers representing the 15 Cubans expressed joy over Moreno's ruling, but cautioned it could be months before their clients might be able to return to the United States.

''It's always an amazing thing to see how our legal system works and to beat the government when they're wrong,'' said Wilfredo Allen, one of 14 attorneys who worked for free on the Cubans' case.

PAROLE

Allen said the government could grant humanitarian parole documents and/or visas to the 15 Cubans to allow their entry into the United States. But he acknowledged that Castro could be a barrier to their ultimate departure.

''To me, the biggest hurdle is getting the Cuban government to allow them to leave,'' Allen said. ``They all have sponsors and places to live in Miami.''

Judge Moreno also recognized the potential difficulty in his ruling, citing the court's ``lack of jurisdiction in Cuba.''

''Whether they will be permitted to leave a country where oppression has been the rule for the past 47 years is beyond any power granted to this court,'' he said.

The uncommon legal dispute erupted when the Cuban migrants were found on pilings in a section of the old Seven Mile Bridge near Marathon on Jan. 5 and then returned to Cuba on Jan. 9.

The Coast Guard determined that the old bridge pier had been abandoned and did not connect at either end to dry land in the United States, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Dexter Lee.

As a result, the Cubans were not ''dry foot'' and could not remain in the United States, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which includes the Coast Guard.

The legal challenge, filed by the Cubans, their Miami relatives and the exile group Democracy Movement, claimed the bridge was part of the United States.

Moreno found that the bridge was indeed connected to the United States, contradicting the Coast Guard.

COURT STANDING

While Moreno differed with the government on this point, he agreed with authorities on another issue.

He found that only the 15 Cubans who landed on the old Keys bridge had standing, or legal right, to contest the government's wet-foot, dry-foot policy -- not some of their Miami relatives or the Democracy Movement.

El Nuevo Herald staff writer Rui Ferreira contributed to this report.