The New York Times
March 24, 2000
 
 
Tug of War Over Cuban Boy in Miami Is Heating Up Again

          By RICK BRAGG

          MIAMI, March 23 -- As Cuban-Americans here discussed
          possible strategies to keep the authorities from returning
          6-year-old Elián González to his father in Cuba, Senator Connie Mack of
          Florida moved to block immigration officials from taking Elián from his
          Miami relatives anytime soon.

          The senator, a Republican who has sponsored a bill to grant the boy
          American citizenship, has formally requested that the Immigration and
          Naturalization Service delay any action on Elián's return to Cuba until
          Congress acts on that legislation or until the end of the Congressional
          session, said Nancy Segerdahl, a spokeswoman at Senator Mack's
          Washington office.

          Ms. Segerdahl said Senator Mack's request was intended to prevent
          government officials from "acting drastically" and "give pause to any
          immediate efforts."

          On Tuesday, Judge K. Michael Moore of Federal District Court here
          dismissed a lawsuit requesting a political asylum hearing for the boy,
          concluding that only Attorney General Janet Reno could grant him
          asylum.

          That did not prompt any immediate protests from Cuban-Americans
          here, who account for more than 700,000 of Miami-Dade County's 2.1
          million people. But leaders of more than a dozen Cuban exile groups met
          to plan a street protest that police fear could turn violent.

          Ms. Reno said after the judge's ruling that she would not allow asylum for
          Elián, who was found floating on an inner tube off the Florida coast, and
          that he should be returned as soon as possible to his father, Juan Miguel
          González, in Cardenas, Cuba. She has also said immigration officials
          could legally take the boy at any time.

          That is not likely, immigration experts said. Lawyers for Elián's Miami
          relatives have appealed Judge Moore's decision to the Court of Appeals
          for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta.

          Elián's return could be deferred until the appeal is ruled on, but Ms.
          Reno, while refusing to specify when she would send the boy back, said
          today she did not have to wait for the appeals process to run its course.
          Her words mobilized Cuban-Americans here, who began surveillance of
          the house in the Little Havana neighborhood where Elián lives with his
          great-uncle Lázaro González.

          To avoid such an abrupt departure, Senator Mack requested a report on
          the immigration service's action in the case from Senator Spencer
          Abraham, the Michigan Republican who is the chairman of the Senate
          Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration.

          Immigration lawyers in Miami called it a last-minute tactic to buy time,
          but Senator Mack said he took the action because no one seemed to be
          acting in the boy's best interests. Elián has repeatedly said he wants to
          stay, according to his relatives here, and is aware that he may be sent
          back soon.

          "Every question raised in the federal court process has been a series of
          technical legal questions," Senator Mack said. "Not one question in this
          process has addressed what is in the boy's best interests. The only forum
          in which the boy's best interests can be considered is in a custody hearing
          in family state court, where all can freely speak."

          Ms. Reno has said that state courts have no jurisdiction in the case.

          Judge Moore concluded that only Elián's father had the legal right to
          speak for him in an asylum claim. Lawyers for Elian's Miami relatives said
          immigration laws let even children apply for asylum, and it is that
          argument they will raise in their appeal.

          Meanwhile, those who want Elián to stay are standing by. Ramon Saul
          Sanchez, who leads the anti-Castro group Movimiento Democracia, said
          he hoped that any protest would be peaceful, but that it was hard to
          guarantee.

          "There are things we can control," he said, "and there are certain things
          we can't control."

                     Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company