MIAMI (CNN) -- Attorneys representing 6-year-old Cuban Elian Gonzalez
                  and his great-uncle argued a federal judge does have jurisdiction to hear his
                  asylum claim in papers filed Monday in Miami.

                  "While INS (the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service) can exercise
                  its discretion to forgo immigration proceedings," the boy's attorneys argue, "it
                  cannot remove an individual without affording due process of law."

                  The attorneys filed their memorandum in response to a government response
                  to a lawsuit initiated by lawyers who want Elian to remain in the United
                  States.

                  The boy's legal team wants U.S. District Court Senior Judge William
                  Hoeveler to allow the boy the right to argue an asylum claim.

                  Government lawyers want the judge to uphold an INS ruling to return the
                  youngster to his father in Cuba.

                  The matter is set for oral arguments February 22 in Miami.

                  Elian Gonzalez was rescued by two Florida fishermen last November. His
                  mother and 10 others drowned when their boat capsized while attempting to
                  reach Florida from Cuba.

                  Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, has been attempting to have his boy
                  returned ever since.

                  On Tuesday, the INS is expected to respond to a letter written by Elian's
                  father asking that his son be removed from the great-uncle's home where
                  he's been staying and taken to another uncle who supports the boy's reunion
                  with his father.