Asylum hearings begin for Cubans

David Kihara

Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2004 | 9:34 a.m.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration office in California on Tuesday began the hearings for 43 Cuban performers currently seeking asylum in America.

The asylum hearings, at the Los Angeles Asylum Office in Anaheim, Calif., are scheduled to run until Friday, said Hal Eren, an attorney with Eren law firm who is handling the case.

There are currently 43 Cuban troupe members with the "Havana Night Club" show seeking asylum in the United States. They applied for asylum in early November in Las Vegas.

The performers are traveling to California in groups of 12 on a rotating basis, Eren said.

The hearings will determine whether or not the asylum seekers will face abuses or torture if they return to Cuba, Eren said. If it is established that the Cuban asylum seekers face harm upon returning to Cuba, they will likely be granted asylum in the United States.

If the Cuban asylum seekers are granted asylum in America, they will be elligible to apply for "permanent residence status"in the United States after one year, Eren said.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service does not comment on specific or ongoing asylum cases, Bill Strassberger, spokesman for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service in Washington D.C., said on Tuesday.

Nevada-area asylum hearings are often held in Los Angeles because there is no asylum office in Nevada, Strassberger said. There are eight such offices nationwide, he said.