Cuban-American leaders ask that 11 would-be migrants aboard a car-boat that was stopped at sea be allowed entry into the United States.

  BY TERE FIGUERAS

  As families on both sides of the Florida Straits fretted over the fate of 11 Cubans -- who failed this week to pilot a Buick car-boat to freedom -- exile leaders amped up efforts to bring them to the United States.

  Lawyers working with the Democracy Movement filed an emergency motion in federal court in Miami to try to bar the U.S. Coast Guard from sending the Buick's
  passengers back to Cuba.

  A hearing on the motion -- which also asks the judge to extend the requested injunction to all migrants picked up at sea, including Haitians and Dominicans -- is scheduled for 2:15 p.m. today before U.S. District Judge Federico A. Moreno.

  ''The purpose is to stop the federal government from sending these Cubans back,'' said Democracy Movement founder Ramón Saúl Sánchez, who said now-famous images of floating vintage automobiles in the straits make the Cubans easy targets in their homeland.

  ``This is an embarrassment to Castro. They can't go back.''

  Adding to the urgency to stop the 11 Cubans' return: a father and son who were aboard the Buick already have visas to the United States, according to U.S. Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart's office.

  Neither the Coast Guard nor the State Department would address the fate of the Buick or its occupants Thursday, citing policies of not commenting on ongoing migrant cases.

  The sea-foam-colored Buick, powered by its original V-8 engine and makeshift propellers welded to the drive shaft, slipped away from the Cuban coast about 8 p.m. Monday.

  The 11 Cubans -- three of whom attempted a similar trip last year aboard a floating 1951 Chevy pickup -- were stopped Wednesday about 10 miles from Marathon.

  They are in Coast Guard custody, according to exile leaders and lawmakers who say they have been told repatriation is imminent and that the Buick was sunk.

  The possibility of a return trip for the 11 passengers, including five children, drew harsh words from the Cuban American National Foundation.

  ''What is sad is that this administration got into office on the support of the Cuban-American community,'' said CANF Executive Director Joe Garcia, who said the White House ``should not continue to make victims of failed U.S. policy.''

  Rep. David Rivera of Miami -- one of 13 Florida Republican state lawmakers who signed an August letter to the president warning that he could lose their support in a crucial election year unless he adopted a tougher Cuba policy -- said the Buick's plight is significantly poignant.

  ''This incident once again highlights the Bush administration's need for a comprehensive review and reassessment'' of current immigration policy, said Rivera, ``including issues related to retaliation by the Cuban government and due process by the U.S. government.''

  The two Cubans with U.S. visas are Luis Grass Rodríguez -- one of the original masterminds behind the Chevy ''truck-boat'' -- and his 4-year-old son, Angel Luis, who were granted visas after the Chevy was interdicted in July.

  But Grass' wife, Isora Hernandez, who joined her family aboard the Chevy, was one of those denied visas.

  ''That is why they threw themselves in water again, the Buick,'' said her brother, Ruben García, who emigrated legally to Miami Springs in 1994 by virtue of his
  American-born father.

  Díaz-Balart has intervened on Grass' behalf with a letter to Roger Noriega, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs.

  Noted immigration attorney Ira Kurzban said that although the motion requesting an emergency injunction is wrapped in the complicated context of U.S. policy, there is still hope of success.

  ''It strikes me as a difficult case, but there are theories that could allow the judge to properly enter a temporary restraining order,'' he said, noting that Grass' immigration status could prove pivotal.

  ''He has a visa. There's nothing that says you have to enter the U.S. by plane,'' he said. ``You can come by paddle boat, towboat -- or a Buick for that matter.''