MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
                               MIAMI, Jan. 11 —  The Immigration and
                           Naturalization Service said Tuesday it had no
                           plans to forcibly remove 6-year-old Elian
                           Gonzalez from his Miami relatives. The news
                           came after a Florida judge granted temporary
                           custody of the boy to Miami relatives. Both the
                           judge and the relatives urged the boy’s father to
                           come to the United States to settle the dispute.
                                 “WE HAVE no plans to take charge of him, and we
                          have no plans to forcibly remove him from the home,” INS
                          spokesman Mike Gilhooly said in Miami. The agency
                          refused to elaborate, but planned to release a statement
                          later Tuesday.
                                 The Clinton administration is studying what to do next,
                          and one option is to appeal to a higher court.
                                 Earlier, an administration source told the Washington
                          Post that sending federal marshalls to physically remove
                          Elian from Miami was a “worst-case scenario” that no one
                          in Washington seemed prepared to undertake.
                                 The INS ruled last week that the boy, who was
                          plucked from the sea on Thanksgiving Day after his mother
                          drowned while fleeing Cuba, should be returned to his
                          father by Jan. 14. President Bill Clinton and Attorney
                          General Janet Reno have endorsed that ruling.
                          JUDGE URGES DAD TO COME
                                 But on Monday Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Rosa
                          Rodriguez issued a temporary order granting protective
                          custody to a paternal great uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez.
                                 She also urged Elian’s father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, to
                          be at a March 6 hearing, saying his “failure to appear may
                          result in a decision adverse to his interests.”
                                 Bernard Perlmutter, director of the University of
                          Miami’s Children and Youth Law Clinic, called the judge’s
                          decision “politically popular” but legally incorrect. The INS
                          has the power to return Elian at any time, he said, despite its
                          statements that the agency will not.
                                 Elian’s father has not publicly commented on the
                          judge’s ruling, but had earlier said he would not travel to the
                          United States to retrieve his son. Cuban officials said that’s
                          because Gonzalez doesn’t want to be “devoured” by exiles
                          in Miami.
                                 The judge said the boy’s Miami relatives had shown
                          Elian would face “imminent and irreparable harm” if he was
                          returned to Cuba, including the “loss of due process rights
                          and harm to his physical and mental health and emotional
                          well-being.”
                                 The March 6 hearing date also gives Republican
                          lawmakers time to pass legislation granting Elian permanent
                          U.S. citizenship when Congress reconvenes late this month.
                          OPPORTUNITY FOR REUNION?
                                  Spencer Eig, the Miami relatives’ attorney, told
                          NBC’s “Today” show Tuesday that the relatives see the
                          ruling as “an opportunity” for Elian’s father and
                          grandparents to “participate in the process” by coming to
                          Miami.
                                 Eig earlier argued that if the father doesn’t come to
                          Miami, it proves that Cuba “has a gun to his head”.
                                 The ruling essentially defied a federal government order
                          that the boy be sent back to Cuba by Friday.
                                 Lazaro Gonzalez on Monday waved a copy of the
                          ruling and yelled “Victory for Elian!” in Spanish before going
                          inside the family’s home in Little Havana.
                                 If Gonzalez is appointed Elian’s guardian, he could
                          seek political asylum for the boy.
                                  Eig said the relatives would “certainly and
                          absolute” comply with U.S. law but was optimistic Elian’s
                          biggest choice in the future would be whether to attend the
                          University of Florida or Florida State University.
                          REACTION IN CUBA
                                 Cuba’s communist government blasted the judge’s
                          decision, saying those blocking the boy’s return are “beasts
                          whose hearts cannot hear.”
                                 Many among the thousands of Cubans gathered in Havana
                          for the latest in a month of rallies looked stunned when student
                          leader Hassan Perez announced the ruling. Perez has been
                          regularly called upon to deliver the Cuban government’s
                          message during the rallies demanding that Elian be returned
                          to Cuba.
                                 Elian’s father has said his ex-wife did not get his
                          permission to take Elian out of Cuba.
                          POLITICS AT PLAY
                                 The international tug-of-war over the young boy now
                          includes several efforts by Congress to intervene in his case.
                          On Friday, Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., tried to delay Elian’s
                          departure by issuing a subpoena that requires the boy to
                          testify before a House committee Feb. 10.
                                  Vice President Al Gore has even become involved,
                          questioning Monday whether the INS had the expertise to
                          decide Elian’s fate.
                                  Interviewed on the “Today” show, Gore said he’d “like
                          to see the dispute adjudicated in our courts, where traditionally
                          questions like ‘What is best for this child?’ are decided.”
                                 “It’s not clear to me that they (INS officials) have the
                          experience and expertise to really address a question like
                          that,” Gore said.
                                 “Remember this,” he added, “this child’s mother died in
                          an effort to get her child’s freedom. And remember as well,
                          the child’s father has demonstrators paid by (Cuban
                          President Fidel) Castro chanting outside his window. There
                          is no evidence that he is expressing a sincere, genuine feeling
                          about what is in his child’s best interest.”
                                 As some election watchers note, Gore has a keen
                          interest in Miami because he has received huge financial
                          support from Cubans in Miami. In Miami, Gore has raised
                          $382,900, just behind Republican front-runner George W.
                          Bush with $391,000, according to figures by the Federal
                          Election Commission.
                                 At the White House on Monday, Clinton would not
                          comment on Gore’s remarks. “Anybody’s free to express
                          their opinion about this on whether they think they did right
                          or wrong,” the president said. Like Gore, he also would not
                          comment on Burton’s subpoena.
                                 Meanwhile, Sen. Robert Smith — a New Hampshire
                          Republican and member of the committee that oversees the
                          INS — told MSNBC that Elian’s status should be settled
                          by Elian’s father coming to the United States and working
                          things out with his Miami relatives.
                                 But Smith didn’t think that would happen, claiming the
                          INS ruled as it did because it knows the father is “under
                          house arrest” in Cuba.
                                 And if the father’s not going to come here, Smith
                          added, Reno should meet with Elian to judge whether he’s
                          mature enough to decide for himself where he wants to live.
                                 Smith visited Elian in Miami on Saturday, telling
                          reporters the boy said, “Help me. I don’t want to go back
                          to Cuba.”
                                 In a national CNN poll released Sunday, 56 percent of
                          Americans surveyed felt Elian should be reunited with his
                          father in Cuba, and 35 percent backed allowing him to stay
                          in the United States. The poll had a margin of error of 4
                          percentage points, but the network did not say how many
                          people were interviewed for it.
 
                                 The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to
                          this report.