BY ANDRES VIGLUCCI AND JAY WEAVER

 The Miami relatives of Elian Gonzalez remained defiant this morning, standing
 firm in saying federal agents would have to come to their home and get the boy
 because they are not handing him over voluntarily.

 An attorney for Lazaro Gonzalez, the great-uncle whose family has been caring
 for the boy, said this morning on NBC's "Today" show that the Miami relatives
 refuse to be "deportation officers."

 "If the INS wants to deport him, they will have to do it themselves,'' Spencer Eig
 said. "They are free to come to the house. He will unlock his doors and he will
 not resist and he will stand by tearfully.''

 But Immigration and Naturalization Service Commissioner Doris Meissner said
 the government would act to ensure the custody transfer from the Miami family
 to Elian's father.

 "We'll take action in a way that's appropriate to the situation when we're ready,''
 Meissner told "Today." "The family is not in compliance with the law."

 Meanwhile, the Justice Department was in the process of filing a response this
 morning to an emergency motion made by Lazaro Gonzalez's attorneys seeking
 an injunction to keep the boy in the country.

 Yesterday, a federal appeals judge granted a temporary stay barring the boy's
 removal from the United States.

 The prospects for a reunion between Elian and his father dimmed Thursday as
 Attorney General Janet Reno returned to Washington with the boy still firmly in
 the custody of his Miami relatives and hundreds of supporters massed outside
 the relatives' Little Havana house.

 Lazaro Gonzalez ignored a 2 p.m. government deadline to turn over Elian, but
 the federal government took no action and there were no indications that the
 government would move to remove the boy from his great-uncle's home today.

 Gonzalez's efforts did suffer a major blow when a Miami-Dade family court
 judge dismissed his effort to claim custody of Elian -- a case that had been the
 linchpin of the Miami relatives' legal and political strategy to keep the boy in
 the United States.

 Supporters of Elian remaining in the United States have persistently demanded
 that the federal government allow a full hearing in family court on where Elian
 should live. But Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey, in a 22-page decision, ruled that
 the Miami relatives have no case because the boy's case is fundamentally an
 immigration question. Bailey also said Lazaro Gonzalez ``is too remotely
 related to the child'' to seek custody.

 She said she would entertain no appeal, and lifted a temporary order barring
 Elian's removal from the county.

 Later in the day, a federal appeals court judge granted the family a respite,
 temporarily ordering that Elian not be taken out of the United States. However, the
 order was granted only to allow a three-judge panel enough time to consider the
 family's request for a longer stay.

 The stay was widely misinterpreted by news media and the Miami relatives'
 supporters as requiring that Elian remain in Miami. In fact, the order does not
 prevent Reno from returning Elian to the custody of his father, who is in
 Washington, D.C., awaiting a promised reunification.

 The order by U.S. Circuit Judge James L. Edmondson makes no mention of
 Miami: ``Plaintiff Elian Gonzalez is enjoined from leaving the United States; any
 and all persons acting for, on behalf of or in concert with plaintiff Elian Gonzalez
 are enjoined from aiding or assisting the removal of plaintiff from the United
 States, and all officers and agents of the United States . . . are enjoined to take
 such lawful action and reasonable precautions and actions as are necessary to
 prevent the removal of plaintiff from the United States.''

 HEARING REQUEST

 Edmondson made clear he was concerned only with the possibility that Elian
 might leave the country and was not passing judgment on the likelihood that the
 family would prevail in a pending federal court appeal. The family has asked the
 appeals court in Atlanta to order the government to grant Elian an asylum hearing.

 Federal officials said Friday's appellate order would delay enforcement of Reno's
 decision by three or four days. The government had until 9:30 a.m. today to
 respond to the family's request for a longer stay. If granted, the order would keep
 Elian in the country until the appellate court rules in the appeal.

 Throughout the day Thursday, the boy's relatives, their attorneys and supporters
 issued a near-constant stream of defiant messages, some of them mocking Reno
 and daring her to take action.

 Though many in Miami seemed to anticipate that government agents would
 sweep in to whisk Elian out of the home, Reno said Thursday it was never her
 intention to do so. She said she would explore all peaceful options before
 resorting to force.

 President Clinton, weighing in publicly on the case for the first time in recent
 weeks, backed Reno's approach. ``This case is about the rule of law,'' Clinton
 said in Washington. ``It is our responsibility to uphold the law.''

 BLUNT REACTION

 Gregory Craig, the attorney for Elian's father, issued his own blunt assessment of
 the Miami relatives' defiance.

 ``Today, Lazaro Gonzalez defied the nation's chief law enforcement officers and
 publicly and belligerently refused to turn Elian over to his father,'' he said. ``Today,
 Lazaro broke the law.''

 Roger Bernstein, an attorney for Gonzalez, defended his client's position, saying
 he did not want to assist in returning Elian to the Communist regime of Cuban
 President Fidel Castro.

 ``Lazaro is not breaking the law. Lazaro has stated consistently that he will not
 disobey the law, that he will stand back and allow the government to do their job,
 but he will not participate in the harming of the child and betraying his trust,''
 Bernstein said.

 In Havana, National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon praised Reno's
 performance in the impasse, describing her as ``generous and flexible, because
 she has moved heaven and earth to convince the clan [the Miami Gonzalezes] to
 return the boy to his father in the best possible manner.

 ``Nevertheless, they've been saying yes and doing nothing. It's a mockery,'' he
 added.

 A day after she flew to Miami hoping to persuade the Miami relatives to turn over
 Elian to his father, Reno returned empty-handed to Washington, still pledging to
 carry out her order, but not specifying how.

 ORDER CHALLENGED

 After a fruitless two-hour meeting Wednesday night with the Gonzalez family at
 the home of Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin, Barry University's president, Reno issued a
 legally binding order to the relatives instructing them to turn over Elian at
 Opa-locka Airport. But Lazaro Gonzalez swiftly announced he would not obey the
 order, challenging Reno to send federal agents to his house.

 ``They will have to take this boy by force,'' he vowed.

 As the 2 p.m. deadline came and went, Reno promised that no agents would go
 to the house immediately. She apparently continued to hold out hope for a
 negotiated agreement, citing a proposal for a face-to-face meeting between Elian's
 great-uncle and father that Lazaro Gonzalez rejected. She suggested the meeting
 could take place at a private retreat.

 ``If they can work things out amongst themselves, the government would step
 aside,'' Reno said. ``But if at the end of the day they could not reach agreement,
 the relatives would abide by the rule of law. We stand by this offer, and Juan
 Miguel Gonzalez has agreed to participate. Unfortunately, Lazaro Gonzalez and
 his family have refused to participate.''

 Reno said the government would now act in a ``reasonable, measured way,'' but
 she would not discuss what options she is considering.

 `LAST RESORT'

 But high-level federal law enforcement officials have put together a plan for forcibly
 removing Elian from his relatives' home. Under the plan, a large number of agents
 would secure a perimeter around the house while a casually dressed group of
 mostly female officers would pick up Elian. The officials insist, however, that the
 plan remains a ``last resort'' to be used if other peaceful options fail.

 Gonzalez's vehemence, combined with defiant words by his attorneys, seemed to
 spur demonstrators outside his house to a high level of emotion. They began
 assembling early in the day, and their numbers grew throughout the day as the 2
 p.m. deadline approached.

 To shouts of ``War! War!'' some vowed to die to prevent Elian from being removed
 from the house. Police erected barricades to keep the demonstrators away from
 the entrance to the house, where a gaggle of politicians and celebrities such as
 singer Gloria Estefan and actor Andy Garcia came to express support.

 The mood of those in the crowd lightened noticeably when they learned that Reno
 had promised not to take action Thursday to take the boy away from his Miami
 family. As the day wore on, the crowd thinned, but more than 500 people were
 still outside the house at 9 p.m.

 Herald staff writers Ajowa Nzinga Ifateyo, David Kidwell, Marika Lynch, Sandra
 Marquez Garcia, Sara Olkon and Eunice Ponce, Herald writers Mireidy Fernandez
 and Daniel Grech, Herald translator Renato Perez, and Herald wire services
 contributed to this report.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald