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Reno faces a political decision on Elian Gonzalez

March 21, 2000
Web posted at: 12:40 PM EST (1740 GMT)

By Tony Karon

(TIME.com) -- A U.S. judge has cleared the way legally for Attorney General Janet Reno to send Elian Gonzalez back to his father in Cuba, but his family would be ill-advised to start preparing the welcome home party just yet.

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District Judge K. Michael Moore on Monday upheld the Justice Department's ruling that only the six-year-old's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, has any legal standing to speak for Elian, and dismissed a lawsuit by his great-uncle Lazaro Gonzalez to request asylum on his behalf. Although those Gonzalez family members who are pressing to keep Elian in Miami have vowed to appeal the decision, the attorney general isn't legally obliged to await the outcome of any appeal before sending the boy home.

But this being an election year, political considerations may weigh heavily in favor of allowing the appeals process to be exhausted, so that the final decision can be attributed to the courts. "The government will want to handle this with kid gloves so as not to offend the Florida vote," says TIME Miami bureau chief Tim Padgett. "So far the Justice Department has shown no inclination to actually enforce the ruling they made back in January that Elian should go home." Indeed, during the hearing Judge Moore had asked why the INS hadn't simply rejected Lazaro Gonzalez's asylum appeal and sent the boy home. The answer, of course, is political.

While Reno ponders how far to allow the appeal process to go, congressional Republicans who want Elian kept in Miami may further complicate matters with a political initiative of their own. "A drawn-out appeal process will certainly give new impetus to congressional efforts to make Elian a citizen, and any other tricks they may have up their sleeves," says Padgett. "This is far from over." Indeed, if Elian was once hostage to a fearsome family feud, he may soon be a captive of a particularly bitter U.S. election.

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