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US Appeals Court Denies Asylum Hearing for Cuban Boy
A US federal appeals court Thursday ruled in favor of the father of Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez, saying the boy is not entitled to a political asylum hearing.
The three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta said the Immigration and Naturalization Service's decision that only a parent can act for his 6-year-old child in immigration matters "comes within the range of reasonable choices. "
It said the principle held true even if the parent was in another country and the child was in the United States, affirming a March U.S. district court ruling that Elian's father, who wants to take his son back to Cuba, has the rights to speak for Elian.
Under the ruling, Elian must remain in the United States for 14 days to give his Miami relatives a chance to appeal.
Elian's relatives, who have been trying to prevent Elian from being sent back to Cuba with the help of many anti-Cuba people in Miami, could appeal to the Supreme Court.
Minutes after the ruling, lawyers for the boy's Miami relatives requested Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy "to assure that Elian will remain in the United States" until the full Supreme Court can consider a formal appeal.
Kennedy handles emergency matters from the 11th Circuit for the nation's highest court, "No child, whatever may be his immigration status, deserves fewer judicial rights than hardened criminals. Surely, this traumatized and innocent child deserves the court's consideration and protection," the request said.
Elian, who survived a migrant boat disaster last November in which his mother and 10 others died, has been in the United States after he was picked up by a fisherman off the coast of Florida.
Elian's Miami relatives cared for him until he was seized from his relatives' home on April 22 in a government raid and reunited in Washington with his father.
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