Once Again: Send Elian Home

In a ruling marked by well-founded law and common sense, a U.S. District Court judge in Miami has tossed out the lawsuit filed by Miami relatives of Elian Gonzalez, the 6-year-old shipwreck survivor who has become a pawn in a political struggle between Miami’s Cuban community and Fidel Castro, the Cuban president himself.

In his ruling, Judge Michael Moore said that only the U.S. attorney general could grant political asylum to keep the boy in the United States. Moore’s ruling confirms the initial decision of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which, in early January, ordered that Elian be returned to his father in Cuba. His Miami relatives, who have used the issue to fan anti-Castro flames in Florida, can file a petition for an emergency stay with the Court of Appeals or accept that U.S. and family law is running against them.

They should abandon their effort to keep Elian in the U.S. and return him to his father in Cuba.

As Moore noted in his ruling, litigation over the boy may be well intentioned but must be measured against the unintended harm: “The reality that each passing day is another day lost between Juan Gonzalez and his son.”

The Miami relatives argue that Elian should remain in the U.S. because his future may be better here than in Cuba, but this assumption would be difficult to prove. For instance, the uncle who’s filing the lawsuit has four drunk-driving convictions. Another uncle has the same problem, and two other relatives are either in jail or awaiting trial for felonies. Every family has its problems, but this one appears exceptional.

Another factor all sides must consider is what might happen to an American child in similar circumstances. A child belongs with his or her parents as long as they can provide and care for them. The answer is clear. Send Elian home to his father.