Posada should be released, magistrate tells judgehttp://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15496239.htmIn a surprise decision, a federal magistrate in Texas has recommended that Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles be released from immigration custody.<
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"Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles should be released from immigration custody because the attorney general has not classified him as a terrorist and his continued detention runs counter to a 2001 Supreme Court ruling barring indefinite detention for foreign nationals who cannot be deported, a federal magistrate ruled Monday.
In a 24-page decision, U.S. Magistrate Norbert Garney in El Paso, Texas, wrote that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement should put Posada under supervised release because the federal government had failed to find a country willing to take the 78-year-old exile, who has Venezuelan citizenship.
''The court recommends that petitioner's request for habeas relief be granted and that petitioner be released subject to the terms and conditions of supervised release,'' Garney wrote.
Garney's ruling is only a recommendation and will not lead to Posada's immediate release. He sent the recommendation to federal Judge Philip Martinez, who is expected to make a decision later -- either adopting or rejecting Garney's recommendation.
Posada's attorney, Eduardo Soto, told The Miami Herald Monday evening that he hoped Martinez would adopt Garney's ruling because ``normally the judge would accept the ruling of the magistrate who heard the case.''