Elián González

Elián González (born December 6, 1993) was at the center of a heated custody and immigration battle between Cuba, the United States government, his father, his Miami relatives, and the Cuban-American community of Miami in 2000. The climactic stage of this prolonged battle was the April 22, 2000 seizure of six-year-old Elian by federal agents, which drew the ire and criticism of many in the Cuban-American community and presidential candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush and prompted a Senate inquiry. However, after the Miami relatives' appeals met several rejections by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, and a refusal to hear the case by the U.S. Supreme Court, Elian González returned to Cuba with his father, Juan Miguel González, on the afternoon of June 28, 2000.

The INS Seizure: Controversy and Aftermath

Attorney General Janet Reno ordered the return of Elián to his father and set a deadline of April 13, 2000, but the Miami relatives defied the order. Negotiations continued for several days as the house was surrounded by protesters as well as police. The relatives insisted on guarantees that they could live with the child for several months, retain custody, and that Elian would not be returned to Cuba. Negotiations carried on throughout the night, but Reno claimed that the relatives rejected all workable solutions. A federal family court judge revoked Lazaro's temporary custody order, clearing the way for Elián to be returned to his father's custody. On April 20, Reno made the decision to remove Elián Gonzalez from the house of his great-uncle Lazaro, and instructed law enforcement officials to determine the best time to intercept the boy.

Related Topics:
Janet Reno - April 13 - 2000

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In the pre-dawn hours of April 22, eight SWAT-equipped INS agents burst into Lazaro's home. A photograph by Alan Diaz of the Associated Press (for which he won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography) shows an INS agent with a MP5 submachine gun apparently pointed at terrified Elián and Donato Dalrymple (one of the men who had found him). The INS agent later claimed that the weapon wasn't pointed at González, and that it only appeared that way from the camera angle. INS also claimed in the days after the raid that they had identified as many as two dozen persons who were "prepared to thwart any government operation", and also had concealed weapons permits and criminal records.

Related Topics:
April 22 - Photograph - Alan Diaz - Associated Press - 2001 - Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography - INS - MP5 - Submachine gun - Concealed weapons permit - Criminal record

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Hundreds of protesters, many who vowed to block any attempt to seize Elián and outraged at the raid, poured out into the steets of Little Havana and demonstrated. Despite some accounts of rock throwing and small fires as well as some arrests, most of the demonstrations were peaceful.

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The INS raid on the Miami Gonzalez' house had several critics; Vice President Al Gore (who supported legislation that would have given both Elián and his father permanent U.S. residency), then Miami Mayor Joe Carollo,and New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (who was in the midst of a U.S. Senate campaign). Harvard University law professor Lawrence Tribe wrote in an op-ed piece for the New York Times entitled, "Justice Taken Too Far", stated that while he agreed that "...Elián should ultimately be reunited with his father, the government's actions appear to have violated a basic principle of our society, a principle whose preservation lies at the core of ordered liberty under the rule of law."

Related Topics:
Vice President - Al Gore - Joe Carollo - Rudy Giuliani - U.S. Senate - Harvard University - Lawrence Tribe - New York Times

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http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/04/25/elian.campaign/

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Nonetheless, four hours after he was taken from the house in Miami, Elián and his father were reunited at Andrews AFB.

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The next day, the White House released a photograph showing a happy Elián reunited with his father.

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