By Tom Raum, .c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON, (AP) - The grandmothers of Elian Gonzalez, unable to take the 6-year-old boy home to Cuba any time soon, 28apparently are gaining ground in their effort to persuade Congress not to grant him U.S. citizenship.
Having won at least a delay in congressional action on the proposed legislation, the grandmothers plan to return Saturday to Cuba without the child after more congressional visits today.
They were also seeking a meeting with President Clinton, but White House aides suggested that seemed unlikely - despite Clinton's support for their cause.
Attorney General Janet Reno, who supports returning the child to Cuba, arranged to meet today with Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin, whose Miami Beach home was used earlier in the week for a meeting between Elian and his grandmothers. The nun says she has changed her mind and feels the boy should remain
in this country.
In Miami, U.S. District Judge William M. Hoeveler gave attorneys for the great-uncle of Elian - who has temporary custody of him - until Feb. 24 to fight the U.S. government's efforts to return the boy to his father in Cuba. That means it is unlikely Elian will be returned until after hearings
the week of March 6.
Raquel Rodriquez, the maternal grandmother, and Mariela Quintana, the paternal grandmother, predicted they would eventually prevail - even if not on this trip.
``We will keep fighting,'' said Rodriquez. ``We're going to bring him back. Right now, we can't do it.''
Elian has been the center of controversy since he was found clinging to an inner tube Nov. 25 off the Florida coast. His mother and others traveling with him in an effort to flee Cuba had drowned.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service has ruled that the youngster should be returned to his father in Cuba, but relatives of the boy in this country are fighting to keep him here.
However, congressional support seemed to be dwindling for a move to grant the boy U.S. citizenship - an effort to end INS jurisdiction over the case.
On some issues, ``politicians just have to step aside,'' said House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
After a meeting of GOP House members, Hastert, R-Ill., would only say ``there's a difference of opinion'' among Republicans about how to proceed. Hastert has supported the legislation but declined to predict its fate.
Hastert said that the bill would not be rushed to the floor, as its sponsors had hoped.
Instead, he said, it would be referred to the House Judiciary Committee's immigration subcommittee.
Samuel Stratman, a spokesman for Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., the House Judiciary Committee chairman, said it was doubtful the panel would act until it received a report from the Justice Department on the boy's immigration case.
That almost certainly guarantees there won't be action anytime soon, the bill's opponents said.
In the Senate, there was strong Democratic opposition to the bill and Republicans were divided. Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, waged a strong battle to keep the measure off the Senate floor.
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., backed off his attempt to bring the bill up this week. ``I haven't said definitely we will or when,'' he said today on NBC's ``Today.''
Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., a leading congressional proponent of returning Elian to Cuba, claimed the rounds made by the grandmothers, both on Thursday and earlier in the week, had helped to build congressional opposition to the citizenship bill.
He called the entire matter ``a tragic human experience and a tragic political experience.''
The grandmothers, after the meeting in Miami Beach Wednesday, said Elian appeared withdrawn and fearful. ``Our grandson is a whole different boy. He has changed completely. We have to save this boy as soon as possible,'' said Quintana.
According to court papers filed in Miami, the boy's father claims that relatives in Florida offered to give him money, a home and a car if he would join Elian in the United States.
Meanwhile, a delegation that included two of the boy's Florida cousins also made the rounds on Capitol Hill, urging support for the citizenship bill.
``He doesn't want to go back,'' said Marisleysis Gonzalez, a cousin of Elian. ``I saw him approach his grandmothers and had the opportunity to see his face, and it was still the face of fear.''
The grandmothers disagreed. ``We told him we wanted to bring him back to Cuba. He nodded his head yes,'' Quintana said.
AP-NY-01-28-00 0909EST
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