Deportation Hearing for Luis Posada

A deportation hearing before a US Immigration Judge is set to begin in the case of Luis Posada Carriles, who is accused of orchestrating the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner.^[1] The Immigration Judge in the case, William Abbott, will consider whether Mr. Posada had ever helped commit terrorist acts, and whether he should be granted asylum in the US despite requests by the Venezuelan government that he be deported or extradited to that country.^[2]

After being arrested in Miami in May, Mr. Posada is being held on charges that he entered the US illegally through Mexico in March.^[3] He was apparently trained by the CIA in 1961 to participate in the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, and Immigration Judge Abbott has asked lawyers to prepare briefs on whether the invasion was a terrorist act.^[4] Mr. Posada, however, denies any involvement in that operation, and he denies being involved in the airliner bombing.^[5]

Mr. Posada is seeking asylum in the United States because he claims if he is deported to Cuba, where he was born, or Venezuela, where he holds citizenship, he will be tortured.^[6] However, US immigration law prohibits asylum for people who commit acts of terrorism or serious crime.^[7] Furthermore, the applicant must demonstrate that he has a well-founded fear of persecution because of his race, religion, nationality or membership in a particular social group.^[8] Mr. Posada claims that the social group to which he belongs consists of former CIA operatives trained to fight Castro in the 1960s.^[9]

It should be noted that the terms “deported” and “extradited” are not synonyms. Deportation is governed by immigration law, which is found in Title 8 of the US Code. It is defined as “[t]he act or an instance of removing a person to another country; esp., the expulsion or transfer of an alien from a country.”^[10] An Immigration Judge rules over deportation hearings. Extradition, however, is governed by Chapter 209 of Title 18 of the US Code. Extradition is defined as “the surrender by one nation to another of an individual accused or convicted of an offence outside of its own territory, and within the territorial jurisdiction of the other, which, being competent to try and to punish him, demands the surrender.”^[11] The terms of extradition are covered by an applicable treaty, and extradition hearings are conducted before a US District or Magistrate Judge.

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[1] Hearing Starts in Anti-Castro Militant’s Case, Intl. Herald-Tribune, Aug. 30, 2005, available here.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Alfonso Chardy et al., Cuban Exile Accused of Terrorist Acts to go Before Immigration Judge, San Luis Obispo Tribune, Aug. 28, 2005, available here.
[7] See 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(2)(A)(v) (asylum is not available to aliens who have engaged in terrorist activity).
[8] See 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(1)(A) (asylum may be granted if the alien is a refugee); 8 U.S.C. § 1101(42) (“refugee” means a person who is unwilling to return to his country because of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion); see also Chardy, supra note 6.
[9] Chardy, supra note 6.
[10] Black’s Law Dictionary 471 (8th ed. 2005).
[11] Terlinden v. Adams, 184 U.S. 270, 289 (1902).