Free Republic

In an apparent first, the United States on Thursday charged two Cuban migrants with threatening U.S. Coast Guard officers who were trying to stop the men earlier this month off Key Largo, a confrontation broadcast live around the world.Federal officials said they knew of no other instance in which such charges had been brought against Cuban migrants who reached U.S. soil after eluding the Coast Guard.If convicted, Javier Morales-Molina, 26, and Reinaldo Molina-Morales, 29, face up to 20 years in prison. They also could be disqualified from becoming U.S. citizens.Attorneys for the men accused federal authorities of trying to make...

Because it detected an increase in third country nationals, including Pakistanis and Palestinians, attempting to sneak into the United States from Haiti, and because it feared that lax immigration enforcement would lead to a new boatlift from that country, the State Department recently urged the White House to adopt a policy of detaining illegal aliens arriving by boat from Haiti until they could be deported or granted asylum. When Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft released a legal opinion last week accepting State’s advice, he was castigated by a lead editorial in the Washington Post. Meanwhile, a big story fell through the...