BY JAY WEAVER

 An attorney for the relatives of Elián González on Thursday accused Miami's top
 immigration official of declaring he was ``so happy'' when he saw a photograph of
 a federal agent's gun pointed at a family supporter during the government's
 seizure of the Cuban boy.

 Attorney Frank Quintero said in federal court that Immigration and Naturalization
 District Director Robert Wallis made the remark because the man in the
 photograph had refused to shake his hand during negotiations on the boy's return
 to Cuba before the raid on great-uncle Lázaro González's home. He sued the
 government after the April 22 raid.

 The man referred to in the photograph is Mario Miranda, a former Miami Police
 officer and head of security for the Cuban American National Foundation,
 according to Miami lawyer Ronald Guralnick, who also is representing the
 González family.

 During a hearing Thursday in federal court, Quintero told U.S. District Judge
 Federico Moreno that Wallis' alleged remark about the man showed the
 government's ``evil intent.'' Wallis allegedly made the remark while he was
 congratulating about 50 INS employees after the controversial raid that divided
 South Florida along ethnic lines.

 Quintero's accusation is based on a December deposition by a labor lawyer for
 several unidentified INS workers. The attorney, Donald Appignani, refuses to
 disclose their names and now faces a court motion to reveal them.

 In a civil suit against the INS and Attorney General Janet Reno, the González
 family is trying to prove that the government violated the family's constitutional
 rights in carrying out the seizure of the 6-year-old boy to reunite him with his
 father.

 Moreno said he will decide Feb. 14 whether to recuse himself from the case
 because he knows witnesses and others involved in the suit, and whether he will
 dismiss the case on grounds that Reno and other top officials have ``qualified
 immunity.''

 The judge also said he will decide whether to waive the attorney-client privilege
 invoked by Appignani, thus compelling him to identify his clients. Both sides in
 the legal dispute want it lifted, and Moreno indicated Thursday that he is leaning
 in that direction.

 During the predawn raid, INS agents allegedly knocked down Miranda and forced
 him to spread his arms and legs. At the time, Miranda said that one agent
 doused him with pepper spray while a second agent racked his shotgun and
 pushed it against his ear.

 Appignani said after Thursday's hearing that Wallis' alleged remark about Miranda
 was offensive. ``This is the type of behavior that fosters this contempt toward the
 Cuban-American community,'' Appignani said.

 Rodney Germain, a spokesman for the INS office in Miami, declined to comment
 about the allegations, referring The Herald to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Assistant
 U.S. Attorney Aloyma M. Sanchez said her office was in no position to comment.

 Other allegations flew during Thursday's hearing.

 Appignani said he was asked by the U.S. Justice Department to cooperate in an
 internal probe into sensational court accusations about immigration officials'
 handling of Elián's seizure. The Justice Department would not confirm or deny
 that such a probe is under way.

 Among the accusations: the INS's alleged destruction of raid-related documents
 and custom-made souvenirs such as 120 coffee-cup holders that were seen as
 derogatory to Miami's Cuban exile community.

 The cup holder bore the message: ``Operation Reunion . . . Miami Is Behind You.''
 It also bore the number ``154,'' referring to the seconds it took for immigration
 agents to remove Elián at gunpoint from his relatives' Little Havana home. The cup
 holder also bore an image of a Cuban flag inside a red circle with a diagonal line
 through it.

 The cup holder was described by Appignani in his deposition, based on what his
 INS clients had told him about it. But whenever he was asked about the basis of
 his information, he asserted attorney-client privilege.

 Sanchez, the assistant U.S. attorney, declined to comment about the anti-Cuban
 allegations.

 But she said her office looks forward to a ``full airing'' about the alleged
 destruction of raid documents.

 On Thursday, immigration attorney Grisel Ybarra, who was arrested by Miami
 Police after the Elián raid while raising money for jailed protesters, showed up
 with an identical cup holder.

 She said two women who did not identify themselves brought it to her Miami office
 before Thanksgiving, and she recently brought it to the attention of Guralnick and
 Quintero.