MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
MIAMI, Jan. 26 — Elian Gonzalez’s grandmothers
arrived in Miami Wednesday for a long-awaited
reunion with the 6-year-old at a neutral site.
Elian is supposed to see his grandmothers at 4
p.m. ET at the home of the president of Barry
University, in what is sure to be an emotional
Under Justice Department pressure, the
boy’s Miami relatives on Tuesday agreed to the meeting at
a neutral site. The grandmothers will see Elian privately, but
the boy’s Florida relatives will be nearby in the house at the
time, a Justice Department spokesman said.
The Miami relatives had been insisting that any meeting
take place at their home and in their presence.
JUSTICE MIGHT FILE PAPERS
In related action, the Justice Department hopes to file
its brief Wednesday in the federal court case involving Elian.
Elian’s Miami relatives have asked a federal judge for
help in filing an asylum claim for the boy, and they want the
court to block any attempt to return Elian to Cuba in the
meantime.
Justice lawyers are expected to ask the judge for an
expedited ruling, which means that it’s possible he could
rule by Friday.
If the judge rules against the Miami relatives, they could
go to an appeals court. And if they lose there, they could file
an emergency application with the Supreme Court. If the
case continued on a fast track, a final ruling could be three
weeks out.
BACK AND FORTH
The grandmothers arrived in Miami from Washington,
where they spent Tuesday on Capitol Hill, pleading with
U.S. lawmakers not to make the boy a citizen of the United
States.
“How should I continue living. I have no one else,” said
Raquel Rodriguez, Elian’s maternal grandmother. Her
daughter and 10 others drowned trying to get to the United
States when the boat in which they fled Cuba capsized.
Elian, one of three survivors, was found on Thanksgiving
Day in an inner tube off the Florida coast — sparking an
international tug of war.
The Miami relatives are fighting to keep the child in
Florida, arguing he would be better off with him than with
his father in communist Cuba.
U.S. immigration officials ordered the Miami relatives
on Tuesday to bring Elian to meet his grandmothers at the
Miami Beach home of Jeanne O’Laughlin, a Catholic nun
who is president of Barry University.
When told the news, Mariela Quintana, Elian’s paternal
grandmother, said she had a message for her grandson.
“We send you our kisses and our love and we want to see
you real soon and we want to take you back home,” she
said.
The women, who arrived in New York on Friday,
first flew to Miami on Monday, but were unable to resolve
a feud over location for a meeting with Elian.
The Miami relatives had refused to allow the meeting
anywhere except their home, but the grandmothers declined
and after a five-hour standoff, flew to Washington.
Elian himself was reported by family friends to be
disappointed he did not see his grandmothers on Monday.
He had a day off school on Tuesday as he did not feel well.
MEETING ORDERED
Joan Brown Campbell of the U.S. National Council of
Churches, which is sponsoring the women’s trip to the
United States, told reporters that the Immigration and
Naturalization Service order for a meeting on neutral ground
was “absolutely” what they wanted.
Justice spokeswoman Carole Florman said Tuesday
that the government had reassured the Florida relatives that
Wednesday’s session would be just a visit and would not
result in his being taken back to Cuba.
The INS has ruled that Elian be reunited with his father,
who had joint custody of the boy with his late ex-wife. But
Elian’s relatives in Miami have filed a suit in federal court
demanding a political asylum hearing, saying the boy should
not be returned to grow up in a communist country.
In a letter Tuesday to lawyers for Lazaro Gonzalez, the
boy’s great-uncle who has temporary custody of him, the
INS said: “To ensure that Elian has the chance to spend
time alone with his grandmothers, the INS is obliged to
direct Lazaro Gonzalez to make Elian available for a visit
with his grandmothers on Wednesday at 4 p.m.”
It blamed Lazaro Gonzalez for the fact that a meeting
could not take place on Monday. It said that if he did not
comply with the order, it would be considered a breach of
the conditions under which Elian is allowed to stay with
Gonzalez while his status is decided.
A spokeswoman for Barry University said Attorney
General Janet Reno had called O’Laughlin, a sister in the
Dominican Order, to ask if she would host the meeting.
“They’re friends,” said spokeswoman Michele Morris.
CLINTON WEIGHS IN
President Bill Clinton on Tuesday declined to say if he
would veto any bill granting Elian citizenship. “I have not
decided what to do and I wouldn’t rule that out,” he said.
Clinton condemned the politicization of the case and
the fact that Elian was being “competed for in a way that is
unusual for a 6-year-old child.”
Many lawmakers and candidates for the November
presidential election, aware of the politically potent Cuban
community in Florida, have taken a position, with
Republicans demanding he be allowed to live “in freedom”
in the United States.
NBC’s Pete Williams and Andrea Mitchell as well
as Reuters contributed to this story.visit.