Elian’s Relatives Agree to Let Boy Meet With Grandmothers

Complying with an order from U.S. immigration officials, the Florida relatives of Elian Gonzalez agreed Tuesday to allow him to meet with his Cuban grandmothers today at a neutral site in Miami, the Justice Department said.

The agreement came after the women spent much of the day trekking through a blizzard here to urge members of Congress to block legislation that would make it harder for them to bring the 6-year-old boy back to Cuba.

“He belongs in Cuba,” said Mariela Quintana, Elian’s paternal grandmother, weeping as she spoke through a translator to reporters. “He was born in Cuba and he’s a Cuban citizen.”

The meeting is scheduled to take place at 4 p.m. at the Miami Beach home of Jeanne O’Laughlin, president of Barry University in Miami Shores and a sister in the Dominican order. O’Laughlin is a longtime friend of Atty. Gen. Janet Reno.

“It will be a private meeting and the [Florida relatives] will let us know who will accompany” Elian, said Justice Department spokeswoman Carole Florman. “We have assured them that this is just a visit and the grandmothers have no intention of leaving Florida with Elian.”

The women will have time alone with their grandson, Florman said.

Meanwhile, President Clinton lent some support to the grandmothers’ cause, saying Tuesday that he had not ruled out the possibility of vetoing legislation that, if passed by Congress, would make Elian a U.S. citizen.

At issue is the fate of the boy found floating on an inner tube off the coast of Florida on Thanksgiving Day. He had been in a boat that capsized while carrying him and his mother and 12 others to the United States from Cuba. His mother was one of 11 people who drowned. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service has ruled that Elian must be sent home to his father in Cuba but his Miami relatives have filed a lawsuit to block that move.

The grandmothers’ whirlwind tour of Capitol Hill came one day after they failed to meet with their grandson in Miami. In a letter Tuesday, the INS told Elian’s Miami relatives to allow the grandmothers to meet the boy in a “neutral setting.”

While on Capitol Hill, the grandmothers received encouragement from members of Congress who oppose legislation to make Elian a U.S. citizen.

“Elian Gonzalez is not an orphan,” Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas), ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration, said after meeting with the grandmothers. “It is my desire to ask that we cease the interference of the U.S. Congress on this issue.”

The flurry of Washington activity about the case provided a striking contrast to the rest of the snowbound capital, in which the government and all manner of official business ground to a halt. The arrival of the grandmothers on Capitol Hill was delayed for hours as the pair--who had never before seen snow--made their way through the city’s nearly deserted streets.

The case has inspired intense emotions in the large Cuban community in Miami, where anti-Castro forces argue that Elian’s interests would be better served if he stays with relatives in the United States rather than returning to his father in Cuba. The debate has spilled over to Washington in recent days as Congress has returned from a long recess.

“Elian is now a political pawn between the Castro forces and the anti-Castro forces,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) after she and a group of senators met with the grandmothers. “That is a disgrace. Call it old-fashioned but he belongs with his family.”

The grandmothers had traveled to Miami on Monday to meet Elian. But they left when Lazaro Gonzalez, the great-uncle with whom Elian has been staying, insisted that the visit take place at his home in Little Havana. The grandmothers said that they viewed that as a hostile setting.

“In light of the rift in the family that the recent events have caused, as well as security and publicity concerns, the grandmothers have clearly stated that they would not be comfortable visiting their grandson in Lazaro Gonzalez’ home,” the INS said Tuesday in a letter requesting the meeting.

But Jorge Mas Santos, chairman of the Cuban American National Foundation, a group that has supported the family, raised concerns Tuesday about O’Laughlin’s house as a meeting site.

“We do not consider that Sister Jeanne’s house is a proper venue,” Mas Santos said. However, he said, “I am sure that the family will comply with the law.

“We’re very concerned with how this is being worked out,” Mas Santos added. “Something is being force-fed to the family.”

O’Laughlin, 70, is a well-known civic leader who is active in immigration affairs. She said that she agreed to host the meeting at the request of Reno. “I would hope the family would truly trust me and know that nothing would happen to this child in my presence,” she said.

A key question affecting Elian’s fate--and possibly setting a precedent for broader U.S. immigration policy--is whether Congress will act on the controversy before the court does. Clinton argued that Congress has no business interfering in a pending legal matter.

“At a minimum, I would like to see this court case played out before the Congress takes action,” Clinton told reporters. Asked if he would veto the bill if it cleared Congress, Clinton said: “I have not decided what to do and I wouldn’t rule that out.”

Proponents said that they want to pass the bill to remove the issue from the jurisdiction of the INS. That would put the case in the hands of the family courts in Miami, which are likely to leave Elian in the custody of his U.S. relatives.

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Hook reported from Washington and Clary from Miami. Times staff writers Eric Lichtblau and Nick Anderson in Washington contributed to this story.