The judges asked lots of questions. Here's an article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Elian's fate now up to court
Legal arguments presented in Atlanta today
By Bill Rankin
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer
Elian Gonzalez's fears of persecution if he's returned to Cuba are real, and the 6-year-old boy should be given a hearing on his political asylum claims, a lawyer for Elian's Miami relatives told a federal appeals court today.
"A hearing is the heart and soul of justice," Miami attorney Kendall Coffey told the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
If the boy returns to Cuba, Coffey said, Elian's beliefs about the United States will be "purged" by the Marxist government and he will become a "traumatized" child.
But Washington attorney Gregory Craig, speaking on behalf of Elian's father, told the court that "common sense, common law" dictate that Juan Miguel Gonzalez should be allowed to speak for his son and return him to Cuba.
Juan Miguel Gonzalez has the best interests of his son at heart and is a loving parent, Craig said.
"He knows this child better than anyone in this courtroom, or anyone else on the face of this planet ... There is a real family here," Craig said. "It's a close-knit family.... [But] it is in jeopardy."
Craig urged the court not to allow Elian and his father to become "hostage" to a lengthy immigration appeals process. "Lift the cloud of doubt," Craig said. "Set them free."
The three-judge panel -- Judges J.L. Edmondson of Atlanta, Joel Dubina of Montgomery and Charles Wilson of Tampa -- heard arguments lasting one hour and 15 minutes on the contentious immigration dispute. Elian's great-uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez, and the boy's, cousin, Marisleysis Gonzalez, sat side by side in the second row of the packed courtroom. Elian and Juan Miguel Gonzalez did not attend the hearing.
Before the hearing, Edmondson walked into the courtroom and asked everyone to remain quiet, explained the court's procedures and said a decision on the case will not be issued today or by the end of this week.
Edmondson said his "guess" was that the court's ruling would be released "in a few weeks."
At issue is whether the Immigration and Naturalization Service should grant Elian a hearing on his application for asylum. U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno has decided that Elian was not competent to file such a claim and that his father, not the boy's Miami relatives, was the most qualified person to make such a decision.
During the arguments, Wilson, an appointee of President Clinton's, expressed skepticism that 6-year-old Elian knew what he was doing when he filed his asylum application.
Wilson said he had reviewed Elian's asylum application and noted that the boy appeared unable to sign his own last name. A "third party" also wrote down most of the answers, he noted.
Wilson also read aloud one question asked asylum applicants: whether they have been associated with various organizations, such as a political party, a student group, a paramilitary group or a human rights group.
"Are you telling me a 6-year-old is competent enough to answer questions like that?" Wilson asked.
And Wilson said that if the application's answers were written by someone other than Elian, "doesn't this reflect a fear of persecution by someone other than [Elian] himself?"
Wilson, as well as the other judges, threw out hypothetical questions, trying to get Coffey to explain what kind of precedent the court may be setting if it overrules Reno's decision.
What if a "teenage babysitter" takes a 2-year-old alien child down to the INS office, get the child to scrawl his name on an asylum application? Wilson asked.
The child's parents come running down to the INS office "screaming" about it, the judge noted. "Are you telling me the INS doesn't have any discretion" to throw out such a petition?
Coffey noted that Elian's case is not like that example, but asserted that if the child's asylum application is "facially sufficient," a hearing should be held.
Coffey conceded that asylum applications are complex, and he asserted that most of the applications are made by people who do not completely understand them.
"That's why we have lawyers," he said.
Edmondson, in his questions, noted that Lazaro Gonzalez, who applied on behalf of Elian, was a blood relative who once had temporary custody of the boy. Edmondson suggested that it may not be an entirely settled matter of law that someone other than Elian's father can speak on the boy's behalf.
Edwin Kneedler, U.S. deputy solicitor general, told the court that the law gives great deference to findings made by the INS commissioner and the U.S. attorney general in asylum matters.
In Elian's case, "careful consideration" was taken to decide that Juan Miguel Gonzalez should speak on behalf of his son, Kneedler said.
"There is a sacred bond between a parent and child," Kneedler said. "It's the father's choice to make." |
