Cuban hijackers face long road to release - Prosecutors show tougher U.S. stand *** Miami prosecutors are going to extraordinary lengths to keep a group of Cuban skyjack suspects behind bars -- mainly to send a message to island residents and their leader, Fidel Castro, that the United States will be tough on hijackers. The U.S. attorney's office has tried twice, and failed, to block the release of the six defendants on bond before their trial. Now prosecutors say they may ask the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to overturn a judge's bail order. ''With all due respect to the court's decision, it's a violent crime that put people's lives in danger,'' said U.S. Attorney Marcos Jiménez, citing knives used by the suspects to commandeer a plane with 31 passengers and crew members from Cuba to Key West.
Prosecutors want the six held without bond, even though they know the defendants would not go free anyway. The reason: If they were released on bail, immigration officials would swoop in and detain them for entering the U.S. illegally -- a tactic often used by the government, to the dismay of defense attorneys. The skyjacking case represents more than just a criminal prosecution for Jiménez and the U.S. Justice Department. It is driven by decades of friction between Castro and the federal government over hijacking prosecutions and migration policies.***