On January 12, 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld lower-court decisions that could result in release from detention of more than 1,100 illegal aliens convicted of violent crimes. The decision was a setback for WLF, which filed a brief urging the Court to permit indefinite detention of illegal aliens pending deportation to their native countries, if the government determines that the aliens pose a danger to public safety. The Court held that even those illegal aliens who have been convicted of felonies may not be detained for more than six months while awaiting deportation, if there is no prospect that their native countries will take them back. Many of those subject to release as a result of the decision came here illegally from Cuba in 1980 as part of the Mariel boatlift. Cuba has refused to accept the return of those Marielistas ordered deported for committing crimes in this country; indeed, many of them had been sent to this country while serving prison sentences in Cuba.