MIAMI (AP) – Fifteen Cubans who fled their homeland and landed on an abandoned bridge piling in the Florida Keys were returned to their homeland Monday after U.S. officials concluded that the structure did not constitute dry land.

Under the U.S. government’s “wet-foot, dry-foot” policy, Cubans who reach dry land in the United States are usually allowed to remain in this country, while those caught at sea are sent back.

The Cubans – including a 2-year-old boy and a 13-year-old boy – were sent back around midday, said a Coast Guard spokesman, Officer Dana Warr. They were rescued last week and were held aboard a Coast Guard cutter while they awaited a final decision on their status.

The case presented U.S. officials with an intriguing legal question, and the way it was handled outraged some Cuban American leaders in Florida.

The Cubans thought they were safe Wednesday when they reached the Old Seven Mile Bridge. But the historic bridge, which runs side by side with a newer bridge, is missing several chunks, and the Cubans had the misfortune of reaching pilings from a section that no longer touches land.

“The “bridge’ is kind of a misnomer,” said Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Chris O’Neil. O’Neil said officials in Washington determined the Cubans should be considered “feet wet,” because they were not able to walk to land.

An attorney for relatives of the Cubans had planned to file an emergency request Monday to prevent them from being sent back, but did not act in time. William Sanchez said he was going to ask the government to review the question of whether the bridge constituted dry land.

Sanchez said later Monday he would file a lawsuit seeking the return of the 15 Cubans.

“We believe the law was misapplied because they entered U.S. territorial waters and more importantly, they touched a piece of bridge that was clearly under the United States’ control,” Sanchez said. “If a federal court judge indicates they weren’t properly repatriated, there is case law that they could be returned to the United States.”

The Cubans had left Matanzas Province in Cuba late on the night of Jan. 2 aboard a small, homemade boat. They were rescued by the Coast Guard from the base of the bridge just south of Marathon Key.

Veteran immigration attorney Ira Kurzban, who was not involved in the case, called the Coast Guard decision ridiculous.

“The wet-foot, dry-foot policy has no foundation in law,” he said. Kurzban said the policy is inconsistent with U.S. and international law, noting that the federal government’s jurisdiction extends beyond dry land to waters as far out as 100 miles.

“International law says that refugees should be granted a hearing before they are forcibly returned,” he said.

At least a dozen Cuban-Americans protested the decision Monday outside the Coast Guard headquarters in Miami Beach.

“Apart from being illegal, it’s a disgrace and a great insensitivity to a community that for three days has been asking that they not be repatriated,” said Ramon Saul Sanchez, head of the Democracy Movement, a Cuban-American group.

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