Salt Lake Tribune
 
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Wednesday debated the fate of two Cubans who are scheduled for deportation, are not welcome back in their native land and exist in a state of indefinite detention in America that would not be legal for other immigrants or citizens.
   Deputy Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler told the justices that is just as it should be because the nation's need to protect its borders requires some aliens be treated as if they have no due-process rights.
   Advocates for the two Cubans said the government's behavior was unconstitutional and urged the justices to apply their ruling barring indefinite detentions to the refugees, who were part of the 1980 Mariel boatlift in which 125,000 Cubans were welcomed by President Jimmy Carter as a humanitarian gesture.
   Kneedler told the justices this was a matter of executive discretion. The detainees have ''no vested right to due process,'' he said.
   Benitez and Sergio Suarez Martinez, both convicted of crimes in America, have challenged the government's right to lock them up indefinitely.