WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Back in Washington after a brief, tearful
                  reunion with Elian Gonzalez, his grandmothers, who want the 6-year-old
                  shipwreck survivor returned to Cuba, plan to resume lobbying lawmakers
                  Thursday. At the same time, more of the boy's U.S. relatives, who want him
                  to stay, are due in the nation's capital to plead their side of the custody
                  battle.

                  The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, whose ruling the Miami
                  relatives are contesting, was expected to weigh in Thursday in federal court
                  why Elian should be returned to his father in Cuba.

                  Meanwhile, both the grandmothers of the 6-year-old boy and his Miami
                  relatives headed to Capitol Hill to lobby legislators who will be considering
                  bills to give the child permanent residency or U.S. citizenship.

                  Lazaro Gonzalez and his daughter Marisleysis -- Elian's great-uncle and
                  cousin -- are expected to fly to Washington Thursday morning. Since his
                  rescue, Elian has been living at their home in Miami's Little Havana
                  neighborhood.

                  Four other Miamians also seeking to have Elian remain in the United
                  States are already in Washington.

                  The group consists of another of Elian's cousins, Georgina Cid; the
                  fisherman who rescued Elian at sea, Donato Darlymple; and the two
                  people besides Elian who survived the late November boat wreck off
                  the Florida coast, Arianne Horta and her boyfriend Nivaldo Fernandez.

                  Florida reunion

                  The grandmothers hugged and kissed Elian during a tense, 90-minute
                  meeting Wednesday that was arranged by the U.S. government. The
                  three Cubans sat down for the first time in two months, flipping through
                  an album of photos from less stressful times.

                  While the child's Miami relatives want him to stay in the United States,
                  his father and grandmothers hope to have him returned to Cuba and to
                  derail efforts in Congress to make him a U.S. citizen.

                  "Tomorrow they're going to make me an American citizen," Elian said in
                  an interview broadcast over the Spanish-language Radio Mambi after the
                  reunion.

                  The grandmothers flew to Florida from Washington where they have
                  previously discussed the custody fight with sympathetic lawmakers. They did
                  not comment as they left the reunion.

                  Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin, who handled the reunion at her "neutral site" home
                  in Miami Beach, said both sides were so mistrustful that she had to show
                  them there was no chance Elian could be snatched away.

                  She showed her Cuban visitors that "windows couldn't be opened, that
                  doors couldn't be invaded, that helicopters could not land in fake
                  grass, that there were no disappearing trap doors."

                  Cell phone confiscated

                  At one point, one of the grandmothers' cellular phones went off and was
                  confiscated, O'Laughlin said. It was unclear who was trying to call.

                  Elian's paternal grandmother Mariela Quintana and maternal grandmother
                  Raquel Rodriguez brought letters and pictures from the boy's former
                  classmates and the three relatives amused themselves with an Etch A
                  Sketch, coloring books and stuffed animals.

                  Outside, the reunion was almost drowned out by about 200 chanting,
                  flag-waving demonstrators. Some cheered and others booed as the
                  grandmothers made their way inside.

                  "When Elian saw his grandmothers, they were elated," said Sister Leanore
                  Esnard, who escorted Elian to the reunion.

                  "They picked him up. They hugged him. They were shaking a little bit. He
                  was at ease although he did not speak much at that point. But they were
                  thrilled. They just kept hugging him and kissing him," she said.

                  'He became very animated'

                  As for Elian, it "took him a little while to warm up, but after a little bit he
                  became very animated," said Sister Peggy Albert, who also watched the
                  reunion.

                  The grandmothers wept after Elian walked out of the room, said O'Laughlin,
                  who monitored the meeting while the Miami relatives waited in the next room.

                  The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service ordered the reunion, saying
                  it had the authority to do so under the arrangement letting the boy stay in this
                  country. The agency has ordered him returned to his father in Cuba, but the
                  boy's relatives in Miami are fighting the order in federal court.

                  Elian was found clinging to an inner tube off the Florida coast on November
                  25. He had left Cuba with his mother, who died along with 10 others when
                  their boat capsized.

                  The fight over where he should live had dominated headlines in Florida and
                  Cuba. During the reunion, hundreds of farmers gathered in a Havana
                  auditorium for the latest in a series of government-organized protests calling
                  for the child's return.

                  Fidel Castro's government has scheduled a much larger demonstration on
                  Friday, the anniversary of the birth of Cuban independence hero Jose Marti.

                              Correspondent Tony Clark contributed to this report