[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 37 (Wednesday, March 29, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1856-S1857]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  MEASURE READ THE FIRST TIME--S. 2314

  Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire. Mr. President, I rise for the purpose of 
introducing another bill that I send to the desk and ask that it be 
read for the first time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill or title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 2314) for the relief of Elian Gonzalez and other 
     family members.

  Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire. Mr. President, I now ask for the second 
reading and, on behalf of the minority, I object to my own request.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
  The bill will be read for the second time on the next legislative 
day.
  Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire. Mr. President, this bill refers to a 
matter that is on everyone's mind. I know the Senator from Nebraska has 
had some concerns on this. I rise to explain what this legislation 
does.
  I think timeliness is important. This is an urgent matter. I 
introduced this bill along with my colleagues from Florida, Senators 
Mack and Graham. I am pleased to have their support in introducing the 
bill. I am doing it today to correct an injustice.
  There is an injustice being committed, as we speak, by the Attorney 
General and the Immigration and Naturalization Service against Elian 
Gonzalez. I thank Senator Mack for his leadership in sponsoring a 
private relief bill to grant Elian Gonzalez citizenship. A grant of 
citizenship to Elian Gonzalez has the practical effect of removing the 
Elian Gonzalez controversy from the immigration law and places the 
controversy in the Florida courts for a custody proceeding.
  This bill today does not grant Elian Gonzalez citizenship. Again, I 
am doing this with the full support of Senator Mack and Senator Graham. 
This grants what is called family permanent residency to the family of 
Elian Gonzalez--that would be Elian, Elian's father in Cuba, Elian's 
father's current wife in Cuba, Elian's father's son in Cuba or child in 
Cuba, Elian's two grandmothers and one grandfather, all of them--so 
they can now come to America, sit down as a family and resolve this 
matter. If they have to go to custody court, it takes it out of 
immigration and puts it into the custody court. This does not grant 
citizenship. It does not interfere in any way other than to say, let's 
do it in a custody matter, the same way as any other 6-year-old boy 
would have to do.

  Permanent residency status will settle the status of Elian Gonzalez 
under immigration and nationality law and leave the case to be resolved 
in the Florida State courts in a custody matter, not an immigration 
matter.
  Some ask: What is the difference between permanent residency and 
citizenship? Why are they doing this as opposed to citizenship? 
Frankly, a lot of my colleagues have expressed concern about 
citizenship. We want to make it palatable because of the confrontation 
that is beginning to brew now and may come to a head as early as 
tomorrow morning where we have a deadline of 9 a.m., where literally 
this boy could be dragged kicking and screaming from the arms of his 
uncle, put on a plane, and sent to Havana.
  Do we want to see that in America tomorrow? Do we want to see that? 
That is a confrontation I don't want to see. It is not called for. We 
don't have to let it happen. This Senate could act today, but under the 
rules, we may have to act on Tuesday or Wednesday, if it is delayed. 
Apparently, some have indicated they want to delay it.
  I wish to make it clear, it could be acted on if there weren't delays 
being called for. Permanent residency status would make Elian Gonzalez 
a resident alien. Resident aliens don't have the privileges of 
citizenship. They are not allowed to vote and can be deported for 
committing a crime. Their status is as a resident alien, subject to 
Federal laws regarding deportation provisions. A citizenship bill would 
grant the individual all the rights of citizenship: voting rights, no 
deportation, and all other rights associated with being a citizen.
  Do I support that? I happen to support that. I would be glad to give 
Elian Gonzalez citizenship. I know a majority of my colleagues do not. 
I am looking out not for what Bob Smith wants to do but I want to do 
what is right for Elian Gonzalez. I want Elian to have his day in court 
as any other child would have in a custody matter where relatives were 
trying to determine who should have custody.
  At 4 p.m. today, Lazaro Gonzalez, his uncle, Elian's uncle in Miami, 
is going to meet with representatives of the INS. They are going to ask 
Lazaro, in this meeting at 4 o'clock, to give up all rights to this 
boy, all rights to keep the boy in the country pending a possible 
appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. If Lazaro Gonzalez says, ``No, I will 
not give up those rights,'' then as early as 9 a.m. tomorrow, Elian 
Gonzalez's parole status will be revoked and the boy could be sent back 
to Cuba without Elian's appeal being heard by the Eleventh Circuit 
Court of Appeals.
  Very seldom do we come down on the floor with an issue as urgent as 
this. This is an outrage. This is urgent. I have heard some people say: 
We don't want to vote on this thing. We should not have to vote on 
this. We don't want to deal with it. It is too hot to handle. We are 
not going to vote on this.
  Whatever way they vote, I am not trying to tell Senators how to vote. 
I am asking for a vote. I think the Senate should say to the United 
States of America, to Fidel Castro, and to the Cuban American 
community, that we don't want to see this confrontation--and frankly, 
to Janet Reno--at 9 a.m. tomorrow or 9 a.m. on Friday or 2 o'clock on 
Saturday or Sunday or next week or next month. I don't want to see on 
my television screen pictures of Elian Gonzalez being dragged from his 
home in Miami and placed on that airplane crying and screaming and 
kicking. I don't want to see that. Not only

[[Page S1857]]

do I not want it to happen, I don't want to see it happen, either.
  It doesn't have to happen. We can stop it. But if we wait and we 
delay and delay, and we don't send this message to the Attorney General 
that we mean business, it will happen. She has backed the family into a 
corner. Why, I will never know, but she has. We can stop it right here. 
We can stop it. I want my colleagues to know that if we don't vote and 
this happens, then it is on our conscience. We can stop this; we have 
the capacity to do it.
  The INS and Justice Department to this day have not spoken to Elian 
Gonzalez.
  Isn't it interesting? I spoke to him. I met with him for 2 hours. 
Diane Sawyer has spoken to him. She spoke to him. Senator Bob Smith 
spoke to him. He is available. But Janet Reno can't speak to him. Do 
you know why? He doesn't have any rights. I say to anybody out there 
who has a 6-year-old child--and I have had three in my time, but they 
are long past 6 now, and they were pretty smart--at 6 years old, you 
know what is going on.
  Do you know what happened to this little boy? I bet it didn't happen 
to too many boys anywhere in the world. He saw his mother die, slip 
under the waves and drown. The last words that came out of her mouth to 
the other survivors were: Please get Elian to America. That is my dying 
wish.
  He didn't come here on a yacht. He wasn't escorted in some rich boat 
somewhere and brought to the shores and kidnapped. He was found 
drifting at sea for 3 days, surrounded by sharks. He survived, and his 
mother wanted him to be here. His mother had custody. She died. She 
can't speak for him. Do you know what? If she had lived--this is the 
irony--this would not be before the Senate. It would not be before the 
INS. They would have 13 months to work this out. He would be allowed to 
stay. So because his mother died, Elian is now being punished. So Diane 
Sawyer can talk to him, Bob Smith can talk to him, but the Attorney 
General can't be bothered with it because Elian has no rights.
  Are we in the Senate going to stand by and tolerate that? Do we want 
that on our conscience? I hope not. We need a vote on Senator Mack's 
bill for citizenship, if you wish, or on my bill on permanent residency 
status, if you wish. It doesn't matter to me. I want to have the vote 
on what we can get the most votes on so we can win, so that Elian wins, 
so that the process wins.
  This is a little boy we are talking about, who endured more than most 
children would ever endure collectively throughout the world. I hear 
all the stuff about it is a family matter. Do you know what? It is a 
family matter, and we make it a family matter if we pass this 
resolution because then the family can come here from Cuba, if they 
care about this little boy. No restraints, no restrictions. Just come 
and sit down with Elian's family here in America, with the Cuban 
family, and work it out. If you can't work it out, then go to custody 
court in Florida, where this matter should be played out.
  Without this vote--and I will repeat it for clarity--if we don't take 
a vote on this, Elian Gonzalez likely will be dragged kicking and 
screaming from the arms of his Uncle Lazaro and sent off to Cuba. 
Without this vote, that will happen, most likely. Or another 
alternative--perhaps worse--is violence, because people are up in arms 
about this, and they have a right to be. They have been very 
restrained.
  I am proud of the Cuban American community for the way they have 
conducted themselves in this matter. But we don't need to let this kind 
of confrontation happen. Do you remember Waco? Janet Reno is doing the 
same thing again. So we need a vote. Now, if we vote and we vote no, at 
least you were heard; you are on record. The American people can say, 
Senator Smith, or Senator so and so, this is how you voted. We heard 
you and you voted however you voted; we know how you felt about it.
  At least have the courage to cast your vote on this matter.
  My legislation grants Elian's family in Cuba permanent residency 
status. For the record, it includes Juan Miguel Gonzalez, Elian's 
father, for permanent residency status in America; Nelsy Carmenate, 
Juan Miguel's wife; Jianny Gonzalez, Juan Miguel Gonzalez's son; 
Mariella Quintana, Elian's paternal grandmother; Raquel Rodriguez, 
Elian's maternal grandmother; and Juan Gonzalez, Elian's grandfather. 
It grants all of them permanent residency. Does it mean that if they 
come to America, they have to stay? No. But it means if you care about 
Elian, then you have to come to America and talk to the family here.
  I have been told by members of Elian's extended family that Juan 
Miguel Gonzalez, Elian's father, had expressed an interest in coming to 
the U.S. a few months before Elian was supposed to arrive.
  The cold war is over, they say. It is over every place, I guess, but 
in the Senate because we want to say that Elian doesn't have any rights 
and we want to let Fidel Castro dictate what happens. Why would we want 
to let Fidel Castro determine the fate of Elian Gonzalez? Let Juan 
Gonzalez come here. If Castro cares, let the Gonzalez family come here. 
We are not going to keep them. They can stay if they want and they can 
go home if they want. We just want them to come and meet with the 
family here in Miami.
  I am deeply concerned about this arbitrary deadline. I repeat it 
again for emphasis: I am very concerned about this 9 a.m. deadline. I 
am very concerned that such a deadline would be imposed because it is 
inflammatory to remove this parole status of Elian Gonzalez.
  The goal in introducing this bill is to get the Justice Department 
and the INS out of the case and turn it over to the Florida courts and 
make it a case for custody, so that any 6-year-old boy--if you think of 
America today, there are custody cases going on right now as we speak. 
And to say this child doesn't have any rights--how about a child abuse 
case? Children are interviewed by psychiatrists and psychologists all 
the time under allegations of child abuse. In custody battles and 
divorces, they hear from children in custody battles. They are heard 
every day. Yet Elian can't be heard because of this decision--a 
regrettable decision--by the Attorney General.

  I am going to end with a plea to the Attorney General: Please remove 
the arbitrary 9 a.m. deadline. Let the courts hear Elian Gonzalez's 
appeal. This is America. We have courts to resolve custody issues. It 
is not an immigration issue. He didn't immigrate here. He didn't 
immigrate into this country. He didn't emigrate from Cuba. He left 
Cuba. He wanted to get out of there and so did his mother. His mother 
died, and you are punishing him because she died. The other two people 
who survived--and I met with them as well--are adults, and they are 
here for 13 months. They are here. No problem. But Elian doesn't have 
any rights. Find a place in the law that says there is any age limit. 
At what age does he have rights? Is it 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, or 14? Find it 
in the law, Madam Attorney General. It is not in there.
  We have courts to resolve these matters. Let the Eleventh Circuit 
Court of Appeals hear Elian's case before you attempt to send him back 
to Castro's open arms. Don't make the 6-year-old boy be paraded through 
the streets of Havana by Fidel Castro. Please, remove the arbitrary 
deadline. Let the Senate be heard. We will be heard, I hope, as early 
as Tuesday, perhaps Wednesday or Thursday--whenever we can work this 
through.
  I appreciate the cooperation of the majority leader, who has been 
very helpful in this matter. I am grateful for that. But there are 
certain things he can't control. Senators have rights to delay, and 
that is what is happening. Please, I say to the Attorney General, don't 
try to impose that deadline. Remove it and let reason prevail.

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