By Ann W. ONeill and Madeline Baró Diaz
Sun-Sentinel

A family plucked earlier this week from a seafaring vintage Buick about 10 miles off Key West will spend the weekend aboard a Coast
Guard cutter, floating in a legal limbo between Cuba and the United States.

U.S. District Judge Federico A. Moreno ordered the government not to send Luis Grass Rodriguez, his wife, Isora Hernandez Hernandez, and their 4-year-old son,
Angel Luis Grass Hernandez, back to Cuba over the weekend.

"I want that order followed. It's not that big a deal," the judge said, underscoring his point to the government's lawyer, Assistant U.S. Attorney Dexter Lee.

The temporary restraining order expires at 5 p.m. Monday, two hours after lawyers return to court to sort out the legal issues surrounding the family's second
attempt in less than a year to traverse the Florida straits aboard a makeshift boat powered by a 1950s-era vehicle.

The judge made no mention of eight other Cubans who were on board the Buick, leaving them vulnerable to repatriation over the weekend. The Coast Guard ship
will be in a position to drop them off on Sunday or Tuesday, Lee said.

Under the so-called wet foot/dry foot policy, Cubans who make it to U.S. soil are generally allowed to stay while those intercepted at sea are interviewed by
immigration officers who determine whether they have a credible fear of persecution if they are returned to Cuba.

If their claim is rejected, they are returned to Cuba.

Relatives and supporters who came to Moreno's courtroom said the family was also on board a 1951 Chevrolet truck tied to 55-gallon drums that was intercepted
in July.

"I think President Bush should let my son stay in this country," said Grass' mother, Pilar Rodriguez Vasquez, 71, who coincidentally was visiting relatives in the
United States when she learned of her son's second attempt.

"They can't stand it anymore."

Relatives of Marcial Basante, 35, who was also part of the Chevy voyage, said he also joined the Buick trip, along with his wife, Mirlena Lopez, 29, and their two
children, Leydis, 12, and Felipe, 8. Basante's cousin, Kiriat Lopez of Lake Worth, said it would be unfair if Grass were allowed into the United States and Basante
was not.

"They are like brothers," Lopez said. "They grew up together in Cuba."

Basante has been monitored by Cuban state security since he was repatriated last year and has had his home searched several times, Lopez said.

"The only thing we are asking for is for the United States to give them the opportunity to come to this country," Lopez said.

William Sanchez, one of the attorneys for the intercepted Cubans, sought an injunction to at least temporarily bar all repatriations of both Cubans and Haitians, the
two nationalities most commonly found at sea.

Lee argued for the government that the law was well established, giving the government the discretion to determine who stays and who goes. Moreno will take on
the broader issues on Monday.

Meanwhile, the family's immigration status remains -- another issue Moreno expects to revisit as more details emerge. Attorneys initially said they had obtained visas
from the U.S. Interests Section in Havana.

But a court declaration filed by the Department of Homeland Security on Friday afternoon indicated no visas had been granted. Instead, the declaration said, Grass
had applied for refugee status and was in the midst of the interview process. However, he did not return Jan. 30 for a scheduled second interview and a final
decision had not been made, Lee said.

Before Moreno issued his order, the federal government also had not decided what to do with the 11 Cubans, Lee added.

There have been several instances over the past year in which the Bush administration's strict enforcement of the wet foot/dry foot policy has upset many in the
Cuban-American community. Joe Garcia, executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation, said he hopes immigration officials allow the Cubans into
the country, but also believes that if they do it will be an election-year attempt by the Bush administration to court the Cuban-American vote.

"This administration after three-and-a-half years of no policy [on Cuba] has gone from no policy to a policy of pandering," Garcia said. "We're looking for a policy
that has a long-term vision, that promotes civil society, that has a reasonable and rational immigration policy."

Staff Writers Vanessa Bauzá and Sam Tranum contributed to this report.

Ann W. O'Neill can be reached at awoneill@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4531.

Copyright © 2004