[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 5867-5868]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                         REPUBLICAN PRIORITIES

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, we just heard a statement from the Senator 
from Pennsylvania which echoes the statements of many Republicans since 
the reuniting of Elian Gonzalez with his father. This was a very sad 
situation. The Attorney General's comments indicate she made 
extraordinary efforts on a personal basis and through the Department of 
Justice to resolve the differences between the members of this family 
involving this 6-year-old boy.
  I am sorry it came to the process that it did in the early hours of 
the morning on Saturday. I understand up until the very last moment, 
negotiations were underway with the family, with the very basic goal of 
reuniting this little boy with his father.
  I will never know what took place in those conversations, but I can 
certainly understand that when the decision was made to enforce the 
law, to enforce the subpoena, and to move forward, those agents who 
went into that home were entitled to protect themselves. They did not 
know, going into that home, whether there was any danger inside. The 
fact that they were armed, of course, is troublesome in the presence of 
a 6-year-old boy, but I do not believe a single one of us would ask any 
law enforcement agent in America--Federal, State, or local--to endanger 
their own lives by walking into a building without adequate protection 
and show of force.
  I hope we will put this in perspective. I have been absolutely 
fascinated by the Republican response to this. To consider some of the 
statements that have been made by Republican leaders on Capitol Hill 
since this event in Miami tells us a great deal about their priorities. 
There is a passion, there is a commitment, there is a sense of urgency 
to drop everything we are doing on Capitol Hill and move into a 
thorough investigation of this episode which occurred in the early 
morning hours of Saturday to decide whether or not Attorney General 
Reno was doing the appropriate thing in the way she approached it.
  My question to the Republican majority in the Senate and the House 
is: Where is your passion, where is your sense of urgency, where is 
your commitment when it comes to the gun violence which is occurring on 
the streets of America every single day?
  Yesterday, here in our Nation's Capital, families who gathered at the 
National Zoo for an annual holiday witnessed gun violence which claimed 
some seven victims, one of whom is now on life support and may not 
survive. Yet for a year--one solid year--the Republican leadership on 
Capitol Hill has refused to bring forward any gun safety legislation. 
Overnight they can call for an investigation of Attorney General Reno. 
Overnight they can bring her to Capitol Hill because of this question 
of what occurred in Miami. But for one solid year, they have been 
unwilling and unable to step up and do anything about gun safety to 
protect children and families across America.
  Mr. DORGAN. Will the Senator yield?
  Mr. DURBIN. No one was injured in the house of Elian Gonzalez's 
relatives in Miami. Thank God. But kids are injured every day across 
America. Twelve children are killed every day across America because of 
gun violence, and this Republican majority, which has this passion to 
investigate, ought to have the passion to legislate, to pass laws to 
make America safer. I would like to see some proportionality in the way 
they respond to the real issues facing American families.
  I yield to my colleague from North Dakota.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I appreciate the Senator yielding to me.
  This is a very sad chapter. It is a story of a 6-year-old child who 
has been used as a political football now for some many months--yes, by 
Fidel Castro, but also by some in this country--and it ought to stop. 
What happened the other morning in Miami is something none of us wants 
to see in this country, but it happened without violence occurring. No 
one was injured, and the fact is, a 6-year-old boy was restored to his 
father's care.
  I have heard all of the stories and all of the words. I watched 
television last evening. I heard irresponsible statements about Waco, 
about storm troopers, all kinds of conjecture about secret meetings 
between Fidel Castro and officials in this country. Look, those things 
serve no purpose at this point.
  This is a 6-year-old boy whose mother died and who now has been 
restored to the care of his father. Are there those here who believe 
that a 6-year-old boy whose father loves him should not be restored to 
the care of his father? If so, then let's have a long debate about 
parental rights. I suspect they do not want to restore this young boy 
to the care of his father because his father is a Cuban and he will go 
back to Cuba and that is a Communist country. But I do not see people 
coming to the floor of the Senate talking much about the fate of the 
children in Vietnam--that is a Communist country--or the fate of the 
children in China--that is a Communist country.
  All of a sudden, this one 6-year-old child whose mother is dead and 
whose father wants him, because he comes from Cuba, does not have the 
right to be restored to the care of his father? Something is wrong with 
this.
  I understand there is great passion on all sides. The Attorney 
General was faced with an awful choice, and she made a choice. The 
choice she made was to use whatever show of force was necessary--not 
force; show of force was necessary--to prevent violence while they were 
able to get this boy and restore him to the care of his father.
  The fact is, it worked. In a little under 3 minutes, they were able 
to get this boy. This boy, now we see in a smiling picture, is in his 
father's arms where he ought to be.
  I know we can criticize Janet Reno and others till the Sun goes down 
and every day thereafter, but it is not going to change the fact that 
this boy belongs with his father. We all know that. We should not use 
this boy for some broader political purpose of U.S.-Cuba relations, 
anti-Castroism, this, that, or the other thing. This is not about Fidel 
Castro. This is about a 6-year-old child and his father.
  Mr. LEAHY. Will the Senator yield?
  Mr. DORGAN. I am happy to yield.
  Mr. LEAHY. I am pleased to hear both of my distinguished colleagues 
talking about the necessity to protect those who go into a situation 
such as that. In an earlier career in law enforcement I had the 
experience of going on raids or arrests or hostage situations, 
oftentimes in the middle of the night. They are a very frightening 
thing.
  I suspect those immigration officers and marshals also have families 
who worry about whether they are going to come back alive. They are 
entitled to

[[Page 5868]]

some protection, too. They talk about a frightening picture of a man so 
intimidating that everybody would stand still. His finger was not on 
the trigger of his gun. If you look at the picture, the safety was on 
the weapon. An unarmed female INS officer, with no body armor or 
anything else, came in there, putting her own life at risk so the 
little boy would not be frightened when she picked him up. And she 
spoke to him in Spanish.
  The Miami relatives could have avoided this. The Miami relatives took 
a position they wanted to help little Elian and hurt Fidel Castro. They 
helped Fidel Castro and hurt little Elian. They should have given him 
back to his father long ago. Instead, they made this whole situation 
necessary.
  The officers who went in there are entitled to protect themselves. If 
I were their spouse, if I were their child, I would hope that they 
would. Then to accuse them of brainwashing or drugging this little boy 
is scandalous. These marshals, who took the little boy into their 
custody, are sworn to give their own life, if necessary, to protect the 
person they have in their custody.
  They were there to protect the little boy. They did protect the 
little boy. He is now back with his father where he belongs.
  I resent the statement of some of the Miami relatives saying these 
pictures of a happy child with his father are doctored, that it is not 
really little Elian, that they substituted someone else for him, or 
that the marshals drugged him. One relative even said the only reason 
he called his father from the airplane was because they put a gun to 
his head. This is outrageous.
  These brave men and women, who constantly put their lives on the line 
to protect the people of this country, including oftentimes Members of 
Congress, ought to be praised.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, how much time is remaining?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Frist). Twenty seconds.
  Mr. DURBIN. Let me close by saying I hope we will see the same 
passion, the same commitment, the same sense of urgency from the 
Republican side when it comes to gun safety legislation, when it comes 
to legislation for a Patients' Bill of Rights, when it comes to a 
prescription drug benefit, as we have seen in their passion to continue 
to investigate every member of the Clinton administration.

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