A federal judge ruled Tuesday that 15 Cubans who landed at the Old Seven Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys in January should have been allowed to remain in the United States.

In a strongly worded order, District Judge Federico Moreno called the administration's decision to repatriate the Cubans unreasonable and demanded that the Department of Homeland Security make its best efforts to bring the Cubans back to the United States for immigration proceedings.

Mercedes Hernandez, a U.S. citizen whose niece made it to the old bridge with her husband and 21/2-year-old son, said the ruling was "the most beautiful gift life could have given" her family.

Hernandez's niece, reached at her home in the town of San Francisco de Paula about 90 minutes east of Havana, said she had received a call from her aunt with news of the judge's ruling,

"We had lost hope, but this has given us hope again," said Elizabeth Hernandez, 22.

Mercedes Hernandez said the Cuban government retaliated against her family members after their return to Cuba by seizing their home and getting them fired from their jobs. She said they have been eager for news about the case.

"Every time I call, they ask me `What have they said? What have they done?' " Hernandez said. "It was unjust what [the U.S. government] did with them. It was an abuse."

Elizabeth Hernandez, who said she lost her restaurant-kitchen job as a result of her attempt to leave the island, said she did not know how the ruling would help her in her bid to leave Cuba. "But, I think it is possible," she said. "I'm waiting for my aunt in Miami to explain more to us."

Elizabeth Hernandez said her husband, Junior Blanco, has been allowed to return to his job as a stonemason.

The 15 Cubans were taken into custody at the Old Seven Mile Bridge on Jan. 4 and sent back to Cuba less than one week later after outcries from local activists.

Noting the historical significance of the bridge, which was built in the early 1900s and is still owned by a state agency, Moreno said that landing on the abandoned bridge pilings was legally the same as coming ashore on U.S. soil.

Attorney Kendall Coffey, one of several lawyers representing family members of the Cubans, said the U.S. government should immediately issue humanitarian visas and work to ensure their return.

"This was a strikingly huge mistake that we hope can now be remedied to avoid enormous hardship and suffering," Coffey said. U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Miami, who called Moreno's decision "logical and humane," is one of several Cuban-American legislators who has asked for a review of the government's controversial "wet-foot, dry-foot" immigration policy. Under the policy, individuals who touch U.S. soil, bridges, piers or rocks are allowed into the United States and can seek asylum, while those intercepted at sea are repatriated. Critics say the policy, which has been in place for about 10 years, is arbitrary and lacks compassion.

In his decision, Moreno said he only was ruling on the application of the wet-foot, dry-foot policy to the 15 repatriated Cubans.

Drew Blakeney a spokesman for the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba, declined to comment on the ruling. The Coast Guard and U.S. Attorney's office in Miami could not be reached for comment, despite attempts by phone. Lawyers for the government had argued that the old bridge did not qualify as U.S. territory because it is not connected to land at either end and said that the Coast Guard's decision to repatriate the Cubans should stand so long as it was based on a reasonable interpretation of the law.

But Moreno said the government's rationale was "implausible" and "unpersuasive." To make his point, Moreno referred to the bridge's role as a set piece in the movie True Lies starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. During filming, the movie's special effects crew reconnected the bridge to land and then blew up the connections. Moreno mused in a footnote that under the Coast Guard's logic, the migrants would have been admitted if they had landed on the bridge during filming in 1993.

Moreno instructed the Department of Homeland Security to consider the Cubans' eligibility for entry to the United States and ordered government lawyers report back on progress by March 30.

Cuban activist Ramón Saúl Sánchez called Moreno's ruling a "victory for justice" and said it reflects the view of most Americans that the bridge should have been considered U.S. soil.

Staff Writer Mike Clary contributed to this report from Havana. Vanessa Blum can be reached at vbblum@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4605.