Whether you believe as most Americans do that Elian Gonzalez should be with his father or take the position of many Cuban Americans that he should be allowed to stay in the United States with his relatives, images of the pre-dawn seizure of Elian by the INS speak of a disturbing incident. Both the Justice Department and the Miami relatives are quick to point the finger of blame at each other for the traumatic seizure. However, both sides should really be pointing the finger at themselves.
The position of the Justice Department is that negotiations with the relatives for reuniting Elian with his father were at a standstill. Due to the stall tactics of the relatives, Janet Reno has argued that she was left with no other option but to order the seizure. "Left with no other option" seems to be a forceful argument to support the removal of Elian. However, there were other options that Janet Reno refused to consider. The most obvious was to allow Elian to remain with the relatives until the Court of Appeals heard his case on May 11th. In the case that the family lost their appeal, there would have been overwhelming pressure on the relatives to turn the boy over to his father. Failing to get a Court order, the Justice Department obtained a questionable warrant and went ahead with a seizure that clearly placed Elian in danger. Failure to exercise other options places some of the blame for the seizure on the Justice Department.
Some have argued that the Justice Department decided against waiting until after the hearing because the Court of Appeals in its preliminary ruling strongly favored the right of Elian to file a petition for asylum.
With Elian in the hands of the father, the Justice Department has effectively undermined the authority of the Court. Even if the Court rules in favor of Elian and he is given asylum by the INS, his father, who has custody, can still take him back to Cuba.
Asylum does not require someone to stay in the U.S .but only gives them permission to stay. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered that Elian must stay in the U.S. but did not rule as to who had custody until the hearing. This gave a green light for the Justice Department to go ahead with the seizure. Thus, the Court also shares some of the blame for the nasty seizure of Elian and the effective loss of its Judicial power.
Many Republican Congressional officials have released statements in the last several days indicating their strong disapproval of the Saturday morning raid. Both Trent Lott and Denny Hastert have promised hearings into incident. Although Congressional oversight of the Executive Branch is an important duty, hearings are too little too late. For the past five months, Republicans, who hold a majority in both houses of Congress, could have passed legislation to make Elian a citizen. Legal residency would have taken the matter out of the jurisdiction of the INS and placed Elian's case in a family court. This action would have avoided the terrible Saturday morning raid. So even Congress shares some of the blame.
The relatives in Miami are also to blame for the traumatic seizure of Elian. There is strong evidence that they were not negotiating in good faith with the Justice Department. Their demands for turning over Elian seemed to change on a weekly basis. The tactics of the family only gave the Justice Department impetus to seize Elian by force. It is clear that many parties share blame for the disturbing seizure of Elian. Somehow, the most important question of what's in the best interest of Elian has been lost. The Justice Department clearly stands for the rights of the father and does not recognize the rights of the boy independent from those of the father. The relatives contradict their own beliefs in looking out for the interests of Elian by leaving the government with few alternatives but a dangerous seizure. So who is speaking for the interests of Elian? No one.
An independent lawyer or guardian should be brought into the case to argue strictly for the rights and interests of Elian. If such a guardian had existed prior to the seizure, perhaps all sides would have been able to see the harm of a seizure to Elian. Even as the case stands today, independent representation will ensure that the case comes a conclusion that is in the best interest of Elian and minimize any further trauma to this little boy.
