MIAMI, Florida (AP) -- A government lawyer who exposed an internal
                  memo on the refugee case of Elian Gonzalez is suing her superiors and
                  Attorney General John Ashcroft, alleging she was a victim of retaliation.

                  Diana Alvarez claims one of her superiors at the Immigration and Naturalization
                  Service made disparaging comments about Cuban-Americans and deliberately kept
                  her from receiving a good evaluation after she objected to "anti-Cuban bigotry and
                  discrimination" during the seven-m onth custody battle over Elian.

                  "There was an atmosphere of outward discrimination against Cuban-Americans at
                  the Miami district INS office, discrimination that was fully condoned and many times
                  initiated by management," Alvarez, who is Cuban-American, said Tuesday. "The
                  retaliation is ongoing to this day and there truly seems to be no end in sight."

                  Diana Alvarez's suit, filed in federal court Jan. 10, seeks unspecified damages for
                  employment discrimination, emotional distress and injury to reputation.

                  Ana Santiago, an INS spokeswoman in Miami, declined to comment, citing a
                  standing policy not to discuss litigation.

                  Elian was rescued off Florida after his mother and most of the other boat
                  passengers traveling illegally from Cuba died when their vessel capsized. He was
                  placed with relatives in Miami who, backed by other Cuban exiles, fought to have him
                  granted asylum in the United States. After a court battle, the then-6-year-old boy was
                  returned to the custody of his father and was sent back to Cuban in June 2000.

                  Alvarez claims she also experienced hostility after she testified in a discrimination
                  proceeding for INS agent Rick Ramirez, who also sued the attorney general over
                  allegations of anti-Cuban bias at the Miami district office. Ramirez settled his lawsuit
                  in September.

                  During a hearing for Ramirez, Alvarez produced a memo that discussed the
                  possibility that Elian's father at one time had sought a visa to move to the United
                  States. The memo also discussed allegations that the Cuban government coerced
                  Elian's father.

                  If coercion could be shown, the memo said, the INS could accept the asylum
                  application filed on Elian's behalf. However, a notation on the memo said that Doris
                  Meissner, then the INS commissioner, had ordered it destroyed.

                  Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.