By Carol Rosenberg. crosenberg@herald.com. Published Wednesday, August 9, 2000, in the Miami Herald
Immigration agents who took part in Operation Reunion, the raid to remove Elián González from the home of his Miami relatives, are converging in Georgia next week for a special awards ceremony.
Commissioner Doris Meissner has summoned them to an awards ceremony ''for a job well done,'' said spokeswoman Maria Cardona of the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Washington.
''We are having an awards ceremony for the people who participated in Operation Reunion -- and rightly so,'' Cardona said. ''They were people who did an extraordinary job under extraordinary circumstances.''
As many as 131 agents took part in the pre-dawn operation on April 22 to seize the 6-year-old from the Little Havana rental home of Lázaro, Angela and Marisleysis González.
Only a few actually stepped inside the home. Most were in support roles in the mission to spirit Elián, the subject of an international child custody dispute, to a suburban Washington reunion with his father, Juan Miguel.
All of the agents being recognized will receive plaques, she said. A few will also get bonus vacation days, at the suggestion of Miami District director Bob Wallis.
The ceremony -- with Wallis in attendance -- is part of the commissioner's routine practice of periodically issuing awards to people who stand out among the thousands of INS employees, Cardona said.
The Herald learned of the ceremony early Tuesday evening. It was not immediately known how many INS agents would be honored.
Because it was after working hours, Cardona was also not able to say how many employees would be traveling to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia, how much it would cost and from where they would be traveling.
Some of the agents involved in the raid were from Miami. Others were from a special Texas-based tactical unit.
Aside from commanders, the only agent who was identified by name as part of the raid was Betty Ann Mills, a Spanish speaker who carried the boy from the home, wrapped in a white blanket. Based in South Florida, Mills became the target of threats after the raid and for a time required special
security measures.
Cardona defended the choice of Georgia -- a campus-like training center built at a former Naval Air Station -- ''as a central location'' for the award ceremony. ''Not everyone that participated in this [raid] was from Miami. It didn't make sense to trot the people down there when people were
coming from different places.''
She said the event -- scheduled for Aug. 14-15 -- was a special ceremony but that Meissner ''recognizes somebody or a group of people'' every time she travels.
Meissner was already scheduled to be there on other business and most INS employees have been there for training on how to be an immigration officer, Border Patrol agent or public affairs officer, she added.
Asked whether the ceremony was a ''normal'' INS event, she replied: ''Nothing about Elián was normal, but it is not out of the ordinary that Commissioner Meissner would recognize a group of employees.''
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