BY JAY WEAVER, ALFONSO CHARDY AND ANDRES VIGLUCCI

 Lawyers for Elian Gonzalez's Miami relatives sued U.S. immigration officials in
 federal court on Wednesday, asking a judge to block the boy's return to Cuba and
 to order the government to allow him to request political asylum.

 The long-promised lawsuit, which lists Attorney General Janet Reno among the
 defendants, alleges the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service violated
 Elian's constitutional rights when it twice rejected applications for asylum filed on
 his behalf by his great-uncle in Miami. It does not address the question of the
 boy's custody, the subject of a politically charged battle between Elian's father in
 Cuba and his Miami relatives.

 ``We're asking a federal judge to compel the U.S. government to treat Elian
 Gonzalez fairly,'' said Spencer Eig, a lawyer for Elian's great-uncle, Lazaro
 Gonzalez. ``So far, they have not.''

 Immigration law experts give the family attorneys few chances of succeeding on
 the legal merits. But in what appears to be a stroke of luck for the family, the
 case was assigned to U.S. District Judge James L. King, who has a longstanding
 record of ruling in favor of immigrants in general and Cuban exiles in particular in
 high-profile cases. Even more pertinently, King established the right of refugees to
 apply for U.S. asylum in a case involving Haitian boat people in the early 1980s.

 Court administrators said the assignment of the Elian case to King was done
 through a random computer draw.

 If the Gonzalez family lawyers can persuade King to hold a hearing on their
 complaint, they could at the very least delay Elian's return to Cuba long enough
 for Congress, which reconvenes Monday, to consider various proposals to grant
 the boy legal status.

 But in an admission that could further complicate the case, a key Gonzalez
 family advisor volunteered late Wednesday that King's son, Miami-Dade County
 Judge Larry King, had hired him to handle his reelection campaign this fall.

 ``I just want everyone to know upfront that I am handling Larry's campaign, but I
 have nothing to do with his father and have never met him,'' said Gonzalez family
 spokesman Armando Gutierrez, a well-connected political strategist who has
 handled dozens of local judicial races. Gutierrez said he has been paid a stipend
 by the younger King, but could not recall the amount.

 Gutierrez's previous relationship with another judge in the Elian case has already
 prompted considerable controversy. Miami-Dade Family Court Judge Rosa
 Rodriguez, who in a much-questioned ruling granted emergency custody of Elian
 to his great-uncle, came under fire for not disclosing that she had paid Gutierrez
 and his wife, a publicist, more than $60,000 for work on her election campaign in
 1998. Court administrators said she was not obligated to make the disclosure.

 An INS spokeswoman in Washington, Maria Cardona, declined to comment
 Wednesday on the federal lawsuit, saying government lawyers had not seen it
 yet. But she said the agency will contest it and ask Judge King to expedite the
 process.

 ``We believe for the well-being of Elian Gonzalez that the status of this 6-year-old
 boy be resolved as quickly as possible,'' Cardona said.

 INS' VIEW

 Cardona reiterated the INS' view, which was upheld by Reno last week: that only
 Elian's father in Cuba, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, can apply for asylum and act on
 the boy's behalf.

 The tug of war over Elian began soon after his Thanksgiving Day rescue at sea by
 two men in a fishing boat who found him floating on an inner tube off Fort
 Lauderdale. Elian and two adults were the only survivors of an ill-fated smuggling
 journey from Cuba that claimed the lives of 11 others, including the boy's mother
 and her boyfriend, Lazaro Munero.

 Elian's father has repeatedly said he wants the boy back in Cuba. Interviewed on
 Cuban TV before the court session in Miami, Cuba's National Assembly President
 Ricardo Alarcon said that ``there's a whole series of maneuvers at different levels
 to hold on to the boy, to continue the kidnapping.''

 The INS has ruled out forcibly taking Elian from the Miami relatives. Reno has
 said the relatives have no legal right to speak for the boy, and she ruled that
 Judge Rodriguez's order granting him custody has no weight.

 In their suit, the Miami relatives want King to quickly issue a temporary order
 blocking Elian's return to Cuba while their lawyers attempt to persuade the judge
 that Elian deserves an asylum hearing.

 ``This case does not ask the court to reach a decision on whether Elian's asylum
 petition should be granted or whether Elian should be returned to Cuba. Instead
 this case asks the court to ensure that the INS provides Elian with the minimum
 due process guaranteed to him by the law,'' the suit reads.

 Before King can halt Elian's return, however, he is legally obligated to find that his
 family would stand a good chance of ultimately succeeding in its asylum case.

 ASYLUM CLAIMS

 The lawyers outlined their asylum claims for the first time in the suit.

 They claim that, since 1997, Elian and his mother, who was divorced from the
 boy's father, lived in Cuba with her boyfriend, Munero. The lawyers maintain that
 Munero was imprisoned in Cuba twice in 1998 for demonstrating against the
 Cuban regime.

 As a result of the stepfather's problems, the suit claims, Elian's mother,
 Elizabeth, was questioned by the Communist Party about her loyalty to the party.

 ``The persecution suffered compelled Lazaro Munero, Elizabeth Gonzalez and
 Elian Gonzalez to flee Cuba,'' the complaint alleges.

 But Border Patrol investigators have painted a different picture of Munero, who
 they believe set up the for-profit smuggling operation. Munero had lived briefly in
 Miami and returned to Cuba, where he was jailed, possibly for having left illegally,
 investigators said.

 EXPERT DOUBTFUL

 One legal expert said it was doubtful that Elian would gain asylum even if he was
 afforded the chance to apply.

 Jan Ting, Temple University law professor and former INS assistant
 commissioner, argued that the boy faces no ``well-founded fear of persecution''
 back home.

 ``Even if they got to an asylum hearing, they would lose, because there is very
 high threshold for asylum,'' he said.

 If the family loses in federal court, one expert said, they may find it difficult to
 continue resisting the INS decision to reunite Elian with his father. A judicial order
 favorable to the INS would make it more politically palatable for the agency to
 send the boy home, he said.

 ``We're in a little bit of uncharted territory here,'' said David Martin, law professor
 at the University of Virginia and former top lawyer for the INS. ``But if INS gets a
 favorable order from the court, it could then set a date and ask the family to turn
 the child over. The INS' strategy is, `Let's get a court order blessing our position.' ''

 Herald staff writers Frank Davies and Mireidy Fernandez and staff translator
 Renato Perez contributed to this report.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald