By Madeline Baró Diaz
Miami Bureau

Eight Cubans who attempted to come to the United States on a vintage Buick-turned-boat could be repatriated to Cuba today, while a family
of three who were also in the Buick will remain aboard a Coast Guard cutter at least until Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno on Monday extended a temporary restraining order barring the repatriation of Luis Grass Rodríguez,
his wife Isora Hernández Hernández and their 4-year-old son Angel Luis Grass Hernández.

The judge said the family cannot be repatriated until 5 p.m. Wednesday.

By that time, Moreno expects to have made a decision on arguments presented by attorneys for the family that he should review the
screening procedures in place for Cubans intercepted on the high seas. Attorneys for the family say those procedures weigh heavily against
those intercepted, and a favorable ruling could allow the family to enter the United States.

"We still have hope," said, Pilar Rodríguez Vasquez, Luis Grass's mother, who is visiting relatives in South Florida.

But those hopes have waned for the eight who are not included in the restraining order. The group of 11 was intercepted last week on board
a 1959 Buick that was re-engineered into a vessel.

The Grass-Hernández family and Marcial Basante, another man who made the trip, had previously left Cuba in July in a 1951 Chevrolet
truck also retooled into a boat. They were intercepted and repatriated.

Luis Fernández, an attorney for Grass, Hernández and their son, said the eight people who could be sent back "apparently did not do very
well in the screening process" conducted by immigration personnel.

In Cuba, the family of Rafael Diaz Rey, who also made the trip with his wife and two sons, said it would be unfair if part of the group is
returned to Cuba while the rest remains in the United States.

"It would be unjust because they all took the same road and suffered the vicissitudes of the sea," said Julia Sara Rey, who lives in Havana.
"But that's a decision of the government."

Under the "wet foot/dry foot" policy, Cubans who make it to U.S. soil are generally allowed to stay.

Those intercepted on the high seas are interviewed by immigration agents and repatriated if they are not found to have a credible fear of persecution.

The attorneys for Grass and his family say that the screening procedures are unfair and do not give Cubans an adequate opportunity to plead their cases. About 98
percent of those intercepted at sea are repatriated, attorneys said, citing U.S. Coast Guard figures.

Grass and his family should be given special consideration, their attorneys argued, because Grass had passed an initial interview for an immigrant visa at the U.S.
Interests Section in Havana and was supposed to have a second interview. As such, they say, he was in a good position to receive a visa.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dexter Lee said, however, that the Department of Homeland Security had not made a final determination on a visa for Grass and, in fact,
Grass missed a rescheduled interview that was supposed to take place Jan. 30. Hernández was previously turned down for a visa, according to the U.S. Interests
Section.

"This process was nowhere near complete," Lee said. "He was merely referred to the next step of the process."

Moreno grilled the Grass family's attorneys on why they felt he had jurisdiction in the case. He also questioned whether the protections of the U.S. Constitution could
apply to people who are outside the United States.

The plaintiffs' attorneys said Moreno has the power to intervene because the immigrants made it into the 12-mile U.S. territorial limits. But federal officials argued
that making it into territorial waters was not enough for a due process claim.

Attorneys for the family said they were pleased that Moreno is taking his time before making a ruling.

Staff Writer Vanessa Bauzá contributed to this report.

Madeline Baró Diaz can be reached at mbaro@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5007.

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