Elian's relatives defiant

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, JUNE 2. Elian Gonzalez appears to be a step closer home in Cuba. A three-judge federal panel of a Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta has unanimously held that the Immigration and Naturalisation Service and not the Courts is the authority to make final decisions on matters pertaining to immigration and in the process denied an asylum hearing for the six-year-old Cuban lad.

But the judges denied a request by Elian's father to replace the grand uncle as the boy's representative in court. Mr. Juan Miguel Gonzalez hoped that the court would agree to his plea so that he could drop the asylum request and take his son back to his country.

``We accept that the INS policy at issue here comes within the range of reasonable choices,'' the judges wrote in their ruling going on to say that the court cannot say that the foundation of the INS argument - that a six year old lacked sufficient capacity to make an individual determination on asylum - was unreasonable. The Judges while agreeing with the plaintiff that the Government in Cuba could use the return of Elian for propaganda purposes, maintained that the assessment of the INS on the asylum claim was not ``arbitrary''.

In Washington, the Justice Department welcomed the verdict with the Attorney-General, Ms. Janet Reno, remarking, ``We have said all along that Elian belongs with his father''. The President, Mr. Bill Clinton, who is on a tour of Europe said that he was pleased with the Court decision.``... this is a case about the importance of family and the bond between a father and a son''.

The Democratic nominee, Mr. Albert Gore, who distanced himself from the administration's point of view for political reasons said that the case must be heard in family courts; and the Republican nominee, Mr. George W Bush, called on the

Vice-President to prod the Clinton administration to move this case to the Family Courts. But this is not all that simple for the efforts of Elian's grand uncle to get custody of the boy in a Florida Family Court failed earlier and the Judge argued that the INS decision on the matter could not be over-ruled.

Elian's father, after the ruling, pleaded with the Miami relatives to end the court battle and pave the way for him to take his son back to Cuba. His lawyer, Mr. Gregory Craig, was confident that there was ``no longer any doubt'' that his client would in the end be winning the case. ``It is now time to end this chapter of Elian's life and let this family go in peace,'' Mr. Craig said.

But the defiant Miami relatives are not about to give up that easily and have vowed a fight to the end. The three-judge panel has given them two weeks time for appeal with legal analysts saying that it was basically down to two options: either ask for a ruling from a full bench of the Circuit Court of Appeals or take the matter to the Supreme Court.

Analysts are making the point that legally and politically the Miami relatives have now been left in a weaker position. In a legal sense, the Judges - appointees of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Bill Clinton - have defined in some very plain language the role of the INS on matters related to immigration. Politically, the point is being made that people in the U.S., by and large, are getting a little tired of a community trying desperately to keep alive a 50-year obsession with Mr. Fidel Castro.

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Section  : International
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