Ex-Atty. Gen. Janet Reno Lends Voice to Help Wrongfully Convicted Mariel Cuban

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
The not-often heard from ex-Atty. Gen. Janet Reno is lending her name to help a Mariel Cuban refugee who was threatened with deportation after he was erroneously convicted and imprisoned in 1983 for sexual assault, the Miami Herald reports.

The paper reports that the attorney for refugee Orlando Boquete, a Cudjoe Key, Fla. resident, has filed legal paper’s to make Boquete a permanent citizen, which would eventually make him eligible for citizenship and remove the possibility of deportation.

Included in the packet submitted to Homeland Security was a letter signed by Janet Reno.

“While no official action can give him back those years, allowing him to earn a living and rebuild his life in his adopted country as a permanent resident without facing continued uncertainty about the risk that he will be deported, is an important step,” Reno wrote.

A 2006 DNA test cleared Boquete of wrongdoing. He was released from prison, then temporarily held by immigration authorities before being released, the Herald reported. Currently, he could still be deported without permanent citizenship.

Boquete had escaped for about 10 years after 2003 conviction and again in 1995 for about a year, according to Project Innocence. As part of his release in 2006, he was required to report regularly to immigration authorities.

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