I.N.S. Extends Boy's Stay in Miami as Judge's Links to Case Are Questioned

          By PETER T. KILBORN

          MIAMI, Jan. 11 -- The Immigration and Naturalization Service
          said today that it would extend the Friday deadline it had set for
          returning Elián González to his father in Cuba.

          The statement came a day after a family court judge in Miami awarded
          temporary custody of 6-year-old Elián to his great-uncle here.

          The boy was found clinging to an inner tube in late November after his
          mother and 10 others drowned off Florida trying to flee Cuba.

          Although contending that it -- and not the state court that issued the
          custody ruling on Monday -- had jurisdiction in the case, the immigration
          service said it would not enforce its Jan. 14 deadline and would probably
          allow the boy to remain in this country until the hearing on March 6.

          "Since everything is under review," said Maria Cardona, an immigration
          service spokeswoman, "we'll most likely extend that."

          At the same time today, a new controversy erupted in the politically
          charged case over documents showing that the family court judge, Rosa
          I. Rodriguez, had failed to disclose to the court a prior business
          relationship with a man who serves as a spokesman for Elián's relatives.

          Judge Rodriguez's campaign spending reports filed with the Miami-Dade
          Elections Department show that she paid the spokesman, Armando
          Gutierrez, his wife, Maritza, and their consulting firms $60,946 in her
          campaign in 1998.

          In failing to disclose the relationship at the hearing, Judge Rodriguez, of
          Miami-Dade County Circuit Court, violated the Florida Code of Judicial
          Conduct, said Anthony V. Alfieri, director of the Center for Ethics and
          Public Service at the University of Miami.

          But Celena Rios, director of family court operations for the 11th Judicial
          Circuit of Florida, said that while Judge Rodriguez's conduct was
          "troubling," under the code "there is no obligation that a judge disclose
          the participation of any individual in a past campaign who is not an
          attorney and is not a party in a pending legal matter before her."

          Ms. Gutierrez called the campaign services and her husband's services on
          behalf of Elián's Miami relatives "apples and oranges."

          While Elián has remained in his relatives' Little Havana neighborhood
          where he has started school, he has become the focal point of the large
          Cuban-American population's loathing for the 41-year-old rule of
          President Fidel Castro, its failure to dislodge him and its usually emphatic
          support of family ties, including a father's claim on his motherless child.

          The immigration service has come under growing and widening rebuke
          for delays in its decision to return the boy to his father and continuing
          delays in enforcing the return.

          In its defense, the agency says it has been proceeding in Elián's best
          interest. Russ Bergeron, an agency spokesman, said, "We felt it was
          necessary to allow a reasonable period of time so the family would have
          time to reach some agreement and so the logistical issues of reuniting him
          with his father could be addressed."

          Mr. Bergeron said the agency also wanted to allow all sides to seek relief
          through the courts.

          In New York, 11 people were charged with disorderly conduct today
          for blocking the entrance to the Federal Building in Lower Manhattan,
          which houses the offices of the immigration service. They were among
          about 50 protesters, including former Attorney General Ramsey Clark,
          who called for the return of Elián to Cuba.

          Now the disclosures about Judge Rodriguez's campaign ties to an
          emphatic supporter of allowing Elián permanent residency in the United
          States have stirred the pot further.

          For helping Judge Rodriguez's election, her first, Mr. Gutierrez's
          consulting firm, Gutierrez & Associates, received two payments totaling
          $7,500, according to the elections department. Ms. Gutierrez's firm,
          Creative Ideas and Advertising Inc., received four payments totaling
          $53,446 for advertising and other media services.

          Both rejected any implications of a conflict.

          "I helped her with her campaign," Mr. Gutierrez said. "But I help over
          100 judges with their campaigns. That's what I do."

          Ms. Gutierrez said she and her husband had seen the judge only once,
          nine months ago, since working on her election.

          "We worked with her to get elected," Ms. Gutierrez said, "but that is
          totally irrelevant. It's apples and oranges. It has nothing to do with this
          child."