By Dana Bash/CNN

                  Washington (CNN) -- In a letter to U.S. Attorney
                  General Janet Reno, North Carolina Sen. Jesse
                  Helms (R), said Thursday that when Congress
                  returns in January, he intends to introduce legislation
                  offering U.S. citizenship to six-year-old Cuban
                  refugee Elian Gonzalez.

                  Gonzalez was the sole survivor of a group of Cuban
                  refugees -- including his mother -- who were
                  attempting to flee to the U.S. by boat.

                  Helms, who serves as chairman of the Senate
                  Foreign Relations Committee, also asked the Justice
                  Department for a "full and fair review" of Gonzalez's
                  application for political asylum before the U.S.
                  Immigration and Naturalization Service takes any
                  action to return the boy to his father in Cuba. An
                  INS meeting to discuss Gonzalez's status was
                  postponed until late January.

                  "If an East German mother had died trying to cross
                  the Berlin Wall with her child, can you imagine for
                  one instant throwing the child back over the Wall?
                  Elian must not be thrown back over the wall simply
                  because his mother did not survive crossing," wrote
                  Helms.

                  The North Carolina Republican also urged Reno to
                  allow Gonzalez's Cuban family members, including
                  his father Juan Miguel Gonzalez, to come to the U.S.,
                  "no strings attached," to meet with officials.

                  "While INS officials did meet with Mr. Gonzalez in
                  Cuba, it is quite possible that he will have a different
                  perspective on the matter if his meeting with these
                  officials could clearly be without fear or reprisal,"
                  wrote Helms.