Mobile Register. January 07, 2000
THE U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service was way out of line in deciding, without recourse to a court of law, that 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez will be returned to his father in Cuba. The decision may or may not be the right one, but it should not have been the INS' decision to make.
Instead, young Elian's case should be decided in a family court here in the United States, under the due process of law for which American justice is rightly emulated throughout the world. The INS is an organization designed to rule on naturalization, not child custody. But until proper custody
can be determined, Elian's case cannot rightly be a mere matter of immigration. The INS should therefore butt out of the controversy.
Extremists on both sides have badly politicized the dilemma of what to do with the young Gonzalez. The worst politicizer of all, naturally, has been the brutal Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro, who has used billboards and state-controlled media to whip his impoverished subjects into a frenzy in
favor of returning the lad to Cuba. And, in Florida, some of the Cuban-Americans agitating to keep Elian in the United States are doubtless more interested in embarrassing Castro than in the actual plight of the youngster.
Many observers will argue, quite cogently, that the most appropriate person to decide the boy's fate is his father. In theory, that view is unassailable. But the very job of an American family court is to decide if the parent is competent to make that decision. Most American laws give the huge
benefit of the doubt to the parent, as they should, but the same laws set up objective standards to decide if the parent is able, not to be mention non-abusive.
That's why, if the boy's father wants to freely make the case for his child's return to his custody in Cuba, he should be allowed to come to the United States to make it. Unless he makes the case here, there is no way to tell if he is making it freely rather than merely under the duress of a
totalitarian state.
And, after all, why should he not be allowed to come here? All four of the now-American grandparents were in Cuba, meeting with Castro, when the INS decision came down. In return, shouldn't Castro let the father visit the United States?
Republican National Chairman Jim Nicholson, obviously out for political points, has nevertheless made an interesting offer. He says he will pay, out of his own pocket, for the father and his entire family to come to the United States to make whatever case they choose.
It's an excellent idea. More than that, the family ought to be offered asylum once they get here - no more nor less than what other immigrants receive, which is the opportunity to choose freedom.
If, on free soil, the father and his family win their case and choose to take Elian back to Cuba with them, fine. That's the way the law ought to work.
Since Elian is on American soil right now, he deserves to enjoy the fruits of American justice. In effect, that's what his mother died for.
In the end, the only consideration that should matter is the best interest of the child - not the best interests of Castro, nor of his family here in the United States, nor of his father, but of Elian himself. That's exactly what American family courts are designed to determine.
Elian deserves his day in court.
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