By Julian E. Barnes. The New York Times. June 28, 2000
The Supreme Court today refused to issue an order to keep Elián González in the United States, clearing the way for the 6-year-old boy to return home to Cuba.
A federal court order prohibiting the boy from leaving will expire at 4 p.m. today, allowing Elián's father, Juan Miguel González, to take his son home. A chartered plane is standing by at Washington's Dulles International Airport to carry Elián and his family and friends
back to Cuba. Federal marshals will escort the boy from a Washington home to the airport.
In a terse order released just after noon, the Supreme Court said that it would refuse to review the case. The high court also refused to extend an appeals court order keeping Elián in the country.
Elián was rescued at sea on Nov. 25, three days after the boy, his mother and 12 others left Cuba for Florida in a small motor boat. Elián and two adults were saved after the boat capsized, but the boy's mother, Elisabet, and 10 others died.
In Miami, Elián's great uncle, Lazaro González was given temporary custody of the boy and moved him into his Little Havana home. But Elián's father requested that his son be returned to him, touching off the battle for the boy.
Elián quickly became the focus of demonstrations on both sides of the Florida Straits. In Cuba, Fidel Castro stirred up demonstrations demanding Elián be returned to his father, who quickly became a symbol of loyalty to the Communist regime.
In Miami, Cuban-Americans rallied to keep the boy in the country, arguing that his mother had given her life so her son could grow up in freedom. Others in Miami began attaching religious significance to Elián's migration to Florida, saying that the intercession of the Virgin Mary had
saved the boy, and that it would be a violation of God's will to return the boy to a totalitarian regime.
Custody of the boy also became a political issue. Although a majority of Americans supported returning the boy to his father, Florida may be a key state in the fall presidential election.
The Cuban-American community is a potent voting bloc in Florida.
In January, the Immigration and Naturalization Service ruled that Elián belonged with his father and should be returned to Cuba, denying a request by Lazaro González that the boy be granted an asylum hearing.
But Elián's great uncle filed a federal lawsuit to overturn the Immigration Service's decision. As the court fight dragged on, Juan Miguel Gonzalez traveled from Havana to Washington on April 6 with his new wife and other son to take custoday of Elián.
Elián's Miami relatives however balked at giving up the boy, even after his father agreed he would not leave the country until the court fight was resolved. When the Miami relatives ignored a order from Attorney General Janet Reno to give up the boy, Ms. Reno ordered a raid on the home by
armed federal officers.
Elián remained in the Washington area -- first at a Maryland retreat then in the city -- as the case made its way through the courts.
A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the denial of the amnesty hearing, but ordered the boy to remain in the country as the relatives filed an appeal with the full Court of Appeals. That appeal was also denied on June 23, and the Miami relatives were given just five
days to win an emergency stay from the Supreme Court.
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