Elian waves to reporters outside his relatives' home in Miami

January 12, 2000
Web posted at: 7:31 a.m. EST (1231 GMT)

In this story: Dispute over jurisdiction Bill would grant child U.S. citizenship Speculation on father's wishes 'No more orphans to the embargo' RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sources tell CNN that Attorney General Janet Reno may issue a statement Wednesday about a Florida state judge's ruling allowing 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez to remain in the United States until March.

In the meantime, the spokesman for the boy's Miami relatives acknowledged Tuesday that he worked in the 1998 election campaign of the judge who awarded temporary custody of the Cuban boy to the child's great-uncle.

A check of campaign records by CNN showed that Armando Gutierrez was paid $10,000 as a political consultant to Family Court Judge Rosa Rodriguez.

"I see no conflict," Gutierrez told CNN. "This had nothing to do with her choice, with her being chosen in this case. I had no contact with her."

The family court director, Celina Rios, released a statement later in the day saying that Gutierrez' role as a campaign consultant and the fees he was paid are a matter of public record.

Rodriguez was under no obligation, the statement said, to "disclose the participation of any individual in a past campaign who is not an attorney and not a party in a pending legal matter before her."

Rodriguez, who is Puerto Rican, ruled Monday that Elian should stay in the custody of his great-uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez, until a hearing on the matter scheduled for March 6.

Gutierrez said he had not spoken to the judge since two days after her election. Gutierrez also said Rodriguez is just one of hundreds of political candidates he has worked for, as many as 20 at a time.

"I feel very comfortable with it," he said.

VIDEO CNN's Mark Potter reports on the ruling that gives temporary custody of Elian Gonzalez to the Cuban boy's relatives in Miami. (January 10) QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K     ALSO A boy's view from a yard in Miami     MESSAGE BOARD US/Cuba relations

Elian was rescued Thanksgiving Day clinging to an inner tube in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida. His mother and stepfather were among 10 people who drowned when their boat sank as they tried to reach Florida.

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service ruled last week that Juan Miguel Gonzalez, the boy's father, is the only person able to speak for him in immigration matters. INS officials said the boy should be returned to the father, who lives in Cuba, by this Friday.

Attorneys for the INS and the Justice Department on Tuesday were working on a response to the state ruling. State court rulings normally cannot override the actions of federal agencies. One option the lawyers considered was asking a federal court to rule on the issue of jurisdiction.

Federal authorities said they have no intention of trying to physically take the boy into custody during the dispute.

Reno is the ultimate authority on custody issues involving migrant children unaccompanied by adults, said David Abraham, a law professor at the University of Miami. Reno supports the INS decision to return Elian to his father by January 14.

"According to the well-established supremacy doctrine, as well as the federal monopoly in immigration matters, the attorney general is under no obligation to heed this invalid order," Abraham said.

Bernard Perlmutter, director of the University of Miami's Children and Youth Law Clinic, said Florida law says child custody rests with the natural parent unless there is clear proof the parent is unfit.

Eleven people were arrested in New York during a demonstration in favor of returning Elian to his father in Cuba

"We are hoping the INS may back down," said Laura Fabar, one of the attorneys for the boy's Miami relatives. She said the boy's father would be notified of the March 6 hearing.

Another attorney for the family, Roger Bernstein, told CNN on Tuesday he is filing a new petition with the INS seeking political asylum for Elian on grounds he would face persecution -- physical or psychological harm -- if returned to Cuba.

He said he filed an earlier such request December 13 and followed up two days later after the INS questioned whether Gonzalez had the legal authority to seek political asylum for Elian.

Bernstein said he was waiting to see how Reno would respond to the lawyers' request that she overrule the January 5 decision by the INS to return Elian to Cuba before taking his petition for political asylum to federal court.

In the meantime, he said, if the INS ignores the state court ruling granting temporary custody of the boy to his great uncle, "We will challenge them in federal court."

One lawmaker is trying to make an end-run around the INS through an act of Congress.

"I'll be presenting the bill, it's called a special bill, to grant U.S. citizenship for Elian. I'll be doing it with other members of Congress, many of whom are eager to have this legal protection for Elian," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Florida.

Meanwhile, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-Rhode Island, is one of several House Democrats joining Rep. Dan Burton, R-Indiana, the House Reform Committee chairman, in sending a letter to Reno on Elian's case. Most of those signing the letter are Republicans.

The letter calls on Reno to "... make a public commitment that the Justice Department will take no action to return Elian to Cuba, until he has had the opportunity to exercise all of the legal options available to him."

Burton on Friday issued a subpoena for Elian to appear before his committee as a delaying tactic to prevent the boy's return to Cuba.

Elian's grandmother and father attend a government assembly in Cuba

Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch, a Republican candidate for president, urged Reno to delay the boy's return until "we ensure that the boy's father's true wishes are followed, even if that requires bringing his entire family here temporarily."

In her ruling Monday, Rodriguez called on Elian's father to appear personally at the March 6 custody hearing, saying "his failure to appear may result in a decision adverse to his interest."

She also said she was convinced the boy would face imminent harm if he was returned to Cuba now.

The family argued in its petition to the state court that Juan Miguel Gonzalez cannot speak freely because of the "coercive nature" of the Cuban government.

Bernstein said, "Elian's father cannot say, for example, 'Well I am glad my son is in America. That's what my ex-wife wanted. That's what I want.' He cannot say that without dire consequences."

Bernstein said when the elder Gonzalez was told his son was in Miami, he said to the family "'Take care of my son.' After that his tone has changed."

In New York on Tuesday, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark accused anti-Castro activists in Miami of kidnapping as he led about 50 people, including community leaders, church activists and Cuban- Americans, in a protest calling for the return of Elian to Cuba.

Eleven members of the group were arrested when they blocked the entrance to the New York offices of the INS after Clark had left the protest.

Among those arrested was the Rev. Lucius Walker, director of Pastors for Peace, who has been a vocal opponent of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba.

Clark said the embargo was the reason the boy's mother was driven to flee the country and ultimately the reason she died.

"What incredible insanity is driving us to hold this child, to glorify the grossness of our materialism as if you can buy the soul of a child," Clark said.

"There will be no more orphans to the embargo," he said. "We will end the embargo, and we'll let Elian choose what he wants to do with his life when he becomes an adult, and we know if we leave him alone, it will be great," he said.

Clark was attorney general under President Lyndon Johnson from 1967 to 1969.

The protesters vowed to demonstrate every week until Elian is returned to his father in Cuba.

Reuters contributed to this report.