Elian's U.S. Family Challenges Feds in Court

Jan 19 -- Attorneys for Elian Gonzalez’s Miami relatives today sought to keep the 6-year-old Cuban boy in the United States by challenging Attorney General Janet Reno and the Immigration and Naturalization Service in federal court.

The attorneys filed a lawsuit at the U.S. courthouse in Miami seeking to get a federal hearing on the INS’ decision to send Elian back to Cuba to be with his father. Lazaro Gonzalez, Elian’s great-uncle, filed the federal lawsuit, which names Elian himself as the plaintiff and Reno and the INS, among others, as defendants.

“It is about protecting Elian’s civil and constitutionalrights, the same as if he was any other child,” said Spencer Eig,a lawyer for the great-uncle. A Florida judge earlier granted Lazaro Gonzalez temporary custody of Elian.

Ultimately, the Miami relatives want the matter to be handled in state courts so a Florida judge can make a custody decision free of immigration issues.

“Most people in this country want Elian to have his day in court,” Eig said. “They want there to be a hearing, a fair and open hearing about what is in the best interest of the child.”

Lawsuit Charges Due Process Violation

Twice before, lawyers hired by the family have filed petitions for asylum with the INS, claiming Cuba is a repressive country and that Elian would be harmed by going home. Twice, the INS turned down the petitions, saying that Elian’s father was the only person who legally could make such a claim.

In the lawsuit filed today, the attorneys said the right to petition for asylum is a constitutionally protected right that guarantees due process. The lawsuit charged that Elian had been denied his due process rights.

The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge James LawrenceKing, the chief judge of the south Florida region, who in alawsuit filed against the Cuban government in 1997 awarded $187million to the families of three Cuban-Americans shot down by aCuban jet as their small planes flew over the Florida Straits inFebruary 1996.