By Karen DeYoung
                  Washington Post Staff Writer
                  Saturday, March 25, 2000; Page A04

                  The Immigration and Naturalization Service last night informed the Miami
                  relatives of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez that it will move next Thursday to
                  revoke the boy's status in this country and send him back to his father in
                  Cuba unless they agree by noon Monday to expedite their legal appeals in
                  the case.

                  The deadline for a response, originally set for yesterday in a Justice
                  Department letter sent to Miami on Thursday, was extended after lawyers
                  for the Miami relatives complained, in a letter to the department yesterday,
                  that the government-proposed appeals schedule constituted a "coercive
                  and dramatic reduction" of Elian's rights.

                  The Miami lawyers counterproposed that Elian's status be submitted to an
                  independent arbitrator, whose decision would be binding on both sides.
                  The government rejected that proposal, but in its letter last night, it
                  expanded somewhat its proposed appeals timetable.

                  The offer is contingent on advance agreement by the family lawyers that if
                  they lose, they will relinquish the boy unless they could persuade the
                  Supreme Court to intervene.

                  The Miami legal team made no comment last night.

                  In a statement issued in the wake of the latest government offer, Attorney
                  General Janet Reno reiterated "our goal to reunite Elian with his father in a
                  fair, prompt and orderly manner." Reno noted that U.S. District Judge K.
                  Michael Moore on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by one of Elian's
                  great-uncles in Miami, in an attempt to keep him here, and sustained a
                  January INS ruling that he should be sent home.

                  Although lawyers for great-uncle Lazaro Gonzalez filed notice that they
                  intend to appeal Moore's ruling, that process could take months. "We are
                  not willing to wait through an open-ended appeals process that could
                  prolong the separation of this child from his father," Reno said last night.

                  Under the latest government proposal, both sides together would petition
                  the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to jump a months-long
                  appeals queue and expedite the matter. Initial legal briefs would be filed
                  simultaneously on April 3, with responses due one week later. The appeals
                  court would then set a date for oral arguments. In the event the Miami side
                  loses, Elian's status--called temporary parole--would be immediately
                  revoked barring Supreme Court action.

                  Thursday's government offer had set March 31 for the initial filing, with
                  five-day intervals for subsequent briefs. The Miami counteroffer had set a
                  timetable extending well into May.

                  Meanwhile, a group of senators--including Majority Leader Trent Lott
                  (R-Miss.), Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms (R-N.C.)
                  and Florida's two senators, Connie Mack (R) and Bob Graham
                  (D)--warned Reno to "take no action to return Elian Gonzalez to Cuba"
                  until all federal and state legal options to prevent his departure have been
                  exhausted. Justice Department spokeswoman Carol Florman said Reno
                  will respond to their letter. "We always listen to [Capitol] Hill with great
                  interest," Florman said.

                  Although the four-month international custody dispute appeared to be
                  entering a decisive phase, it remained unclear how it would end.

                  After a lull of several weeks, the pace of events picked up again on
                  Tuesday with Moore's ruling. Lazaro Gonzalez had asked the court to
                  force the INS to consider the political asylum petitions he had filed on
                  Elian's behalf. Moore said Reno and the INS were within their rights to
                  reject the petitions on grounds that only the boy's father could legally speak
                  on his behalf.

                  Elian has been living with his great-uncle since he was rescued from a
                  November shipwreck in which his mother and others fleeing Cuba
                  drowned. His father in Cuba has demanded his return, and the INS ruled
                  in early January that he should be sent home. But Lazaro Gonzalez,
                  supported by many in Miami's Cuban American community who say Elian
                  should not be returned to the communist island, has refused to relinquish
                  him.

                  Although the INS, backed by Reno, has maintained that it has the power
                  to remove Elian from Lazaro Gonzalez's home and to send him back to
                  Cuba at any time, it has been reluctant to risk a political backlash in
                  Washington and possibly a violent reaction in Miami. Instead, it has
                  repeatedly urged the family and its lawyers to realize that their legal options
                  are running out and to cooperate for the good of the child.

                  After a meeting with the lawyers in Miami on Wednesday indicated little
                  give, however, the Justice Department on Thursday issued its initial
                  ultimatum.

                  The seven-page response received in Washington yesterday contained a
                  reiteration of the Miami relatives' insistence that Elian's case has not been
                  heard on its merits, but only on the procedural question of who has the
                  legal right to speak for the boy.

                  They counterproposed a two-week arbitration headed by "a neutral and
                  highly respected" person--suggesting, among others, former senators
                  Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.) and George J. Mitchell (D-Maine).

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