It's the policy that's all wet

Scripps Howard: A federal judge, wrestling mightily with nutty U.S. policy toward Cuba, has ruled that 15 Cuban boat people were really dry-foot immigrants, and not wet-foot illegal immigrants, and should not have been shipped back to Cuba.
District Judge Federico Moreno called on federal officials to "use their best efforts" to help the refugees return to Florida, which one hopes they will do. And one hopes that Fidel Castro will allow them to return.
Government efforts to carve out exemptions for Cuba from general U.S. policy have resulted in all sorts of damaging contortions. Cuba is the only country in the world to which Americans are barred from visiting freely. North Korea, Iran, Burma? Knock yourself out. Cuba? The Treasury gumshoes could be waiting for you when you get off the plane.
As regards Cuban refugees, generally if they can reach U.S. soil -- "dry foot" -- without getting caught, they can stay. If they are intercepted before they can land -- "wet foot" -- they are deported back to Cuba.
Mexican border
Meanwhile, every other illegal immigrant -- wet foot, dry foot, at the water's edge or 1,000 miles inland -- is subject to detention and deportation. It's a daily occurrence along the Mexican border.
The 15 Cubans had the bad luck or bad judgment to land on a segment of an abandoned bridge in the Florida Keys. Had they landed on the new bridge 100 yards away, they would have been OK.