Sen. Hatch may subpoena Justice Department documents on Elian Gonzalez raid

May 11, 2000
Web posted at: 5:03 p.m. EDT (2103 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch on Thursday said he may subpoena certain unspecified documents related to the Justice Department's decision to seize Elian Gonzalez from the home of his Miami relatives, if the documents are not voluntarily turned over to the committee.

Hatch (R-Utah) told committee members Thursday that the Justice Department would not turn over certain materials, claiming "certain unidentified documents are privileged."

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While the Justice Department indicated some of those documents would be made available for review by the committee staff, others would not.

Hatch said that the committee did not know what documents were involved. "My hope is we will get the remainder of the documents we have requested," he said in a statement to the committee.

"If we do not receive them, however, I will be left with little recourse but to subpoena them. ... I cannot hold a fair and expeditious hearing if the department is holding back information."

Justice Department officials were not immediately available to comment on Hatch's statement.

Hatch did say, however, that many documents have already been turned over to the committee.

After announcing the committee would hold a hearing into the legal issues raised by the Immigration and Naturalization Service operation to return Elian Gonzalez to his Cuban father last month, the Senate Judiciary Committee requested virtually every document related to the operation. The request included all documentation related to surveillance of the Miami residence, the search warrant, the decision to send INS agents into the house to remove the boy and the actual conduct of the operation.

Many congressional Republicans issued a call for hearings -- or at least a congressional inquiry -- after seeing photos of the early-morning raid depicting a terrified Elian in the arms of Donato Dalrymple, the erstwhile fisherman who plucked him from the sea last November.

Just four days after the raid, about a dozen senators met with Reno, Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder and Immigration and Naturalization Service Commissioner Doris Meissner on Capitol Hill to discuss the chronology of events that culminated in the Saturday morning raid.

Lott told reporters after that meeting that he felt confident hearings on the matter would and should be convened. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde (R-Illinois) is conducting a preliminary inquiry.

The department could not comply with Hatch's entire request within 24 hours as many of the documents were in Miami and other field offices, and Hatch subsequently delayed the hearing to an unspecified date.

Senate sources say Hatch is not enthusiastic about the hearing and only agreed to hold it after Lott said he would instruct Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) to hold a hearing instead. Specter serves as the temporary chair of the Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts.

CNN Congressional Correspondent Chris Black contributed to this report.