By Alex Veiga, .c The Associated Press
MIAMI, 19 (AP) - Attorneys for relatives of Elian Gonzalez said they would go to federal court today to challenge the Immigration and Naturalization Service's ruling that the 6-year-old boy must be returned to his father in Cuba.
``Elian has the right to representation,'' attorney Roger Bernstein said in an interview on NBC's ``Today'' show. ``Elian has the right to be heard.''
The INS' top official has ruled that Elian should be sent back to his father. The boy was rescued at sea by the Coast Guard after his mother and stepfather drowned Nov. 25 trying to reach the United States.
Last week, Attorney General Janet Reno lifted an INS deadline to return the boy to his father in order to give Elian's relatives in Miami time to challenge the INS decision in federal court.
Reno has determined that the boy's status is an immigration matter, solely in the jurisdiction of federal law, and brushed aside a Miami family court judge's ruling delaying the boy's return.
The INS also rejected a second asylum petition filed last week on behalf of Elian by his great-uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez. The INS ruled that only the boy's father can represent his son before the agency.
On Tuesday in Washington, leaders of several groups that want Elian returned to his father warned they were prepared to call for protests and acts of civil disobedience if the child is not sent back soon.
The groups, including the Cuban American Alliance Education Fund, urged Reno to enforce the INS decision and release the boy to his father's custody in Cuba before Congress or the courts become any more involved.
``The attorney general doesn't even need to wait'' for the courts and Congress to act, said Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y. ``She has the final say. There is still time for her to send Elian back to Cuba.''
The groups denounced Congress for considering legislation that would grant U.S. citizenship to the boy over his father's objections.
``Imposing citizenship on people feels a little like imposing religion on people,'' said the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell of the National Council of Churches, which supports returning Elian to Cuba.
Sen. Connie Mack, R-Fla., who is sponsoring a resolution to grant citizenship to the boy, said today: ``This is an issue about what his mother wanted for the boy. ... To ignore her interests and her concern is unthinkable.''
Mack, interviewed on CBS' ``The Early Show,'' was reminded that Congress has rarely granted citizenship; among the few recipients were Winston Churchill and Mother Teresa.
``Winston Churchill and this little boy have a lot in common. They both stood for freedom,'' Mack said. ``That's what this is all about.''
AP-NY-01-19-00 1058EST
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