BY FRANK DAVIES

 WASHINGTON -- Miami Mayor Joe Carollo and Miami-Dade Mayor Alex
 Penelas met with Attorney General Janet Reno on Tuesday to urge her to help
 bring together family members of Elian Gonzalez.

 After the one-hour meeting, Reno said: ``We all agreed that helping to bring the
 family together to work out this orderly transition would be desirable, but I also
 stressed that the transfer of Elian to the care of his father must move forward
 without delay.''

 Carollo and Penelas called for a meeting of the Gonzalez family -- father Juan
 Miguel Gonzalez, who is in suburban Washington, and the Miami relatives who
 have cared for Elian since November -- as a way to smooth any transfer of the
 boy and also ease tensions in Miami.

 ``The community will support whatever the family will decide,'' Penelas said.

 But so far, Elian's father, through his lawyer Gregory Craig, has said he is
 unwilling to meet his Miami relatives, at least before he has custody of his son.
 Craig has also said the father is unwilling to travel to Miami, where relatives
 had suggested a meeting ``at a neutral location.''

 Luis Fernandez, a spokesman for the Cuban Interests Section, said that would
 not happen: ``In Miami, for sure, there is no neutral place.''

 CRAIG'S RESISTANCE

 On Capitol Hill, Florida's two senators labored to help make a family session
 happen, but met resistance from Craig.

 ``A family meeting would be very important,'' said Sen. Bob Graham, the Florida
 Democrat. ``But wer'e hearing indirectly from Mr. Craig that it would be premature
 to have a meeting before the reunion.''

 Graham and Republican Connie Mack said they would continue to press the
 father to agree to a family get-together. Mack said the father was ``under
 tremendous pressure and influence'' of the Cuban government.

 ``I find it greatly troubling that Juan Miguel Gonzalez would refuse an opportunity
 to meet with his own family -- those most important in Elian's life,'' Mack said. ``I
 have no doubt the father loves his son, and I believe if he could speak freely, he
 would have met with his family by now.''

 A staffer at Craig's Washington law firm said the lawyer would have no comment
 Tuesday.

 Graham met on Capitol Hill with Delfin Gonzalez, one of Elian's great-uncles who
 has sought the meeting with Juan Miguel Gonzalez, and Jorge Mas Santos,
 chairman of the Cuban American National Foundation.

 Graham said he expected that the Miami family and the community would ``stand
 the stress of a final decision on the future of Elian,'' but added that ``it would help
 if that decision was reached in a respectful way.''

 GRAHAM'S BILL

 As a response to cases similar to Elian's -- including many that receive no
 publicity -- Graham also introduced a bill Tuesday that would improve government
 treatment of the estimated 5,000 unaccompanied minors who enter the United
 States each year.

 Graham's bill would provide children in INS custody with a guardian and keep
 them out of jails and other adult facilities while their cases are being decided.

 Mack and Graham had proposed specific bills to take Elian's case out of the
 hands of the INS, but Majority Leader Trent Lott admitted Tuesday that such
 legislation had no chance.

 ``We looked at giving [Elian] citizenship, permanent resident status, even just a
 resolution saying, you know, that we hope that he will not be sent back to
 Castro,'' Lott said. ``But we have not been able to get an agreement where a large
 majority of our people are comfortable -- and this really does need to be decided
 in some place other, probably, than in the political arena or in the legislative
 arena.''

 Herald special correspondent Ana Radelat contributed to this report.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald