Close the Curtain on Elian Drama

The lawyer for Juan Miguel Gonzalez was on target when he urged an Atlanta appeals court Thursday to let Elian Gonzalez go home with his family. As he put it, “Let’s just get this over with.”

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals heard from lawyers for the 6-year-old’s Miami relatives, who believe the boy should receive political asylum in this country. Federal court rules give the court virtually unlimited time to make its decision on whether Elian is entitled to a formal asylum hearing, and it could easily be months before a ruling. But there can be no excuse for such a delay.

Juan Miguel, along with Elian’s stepmother and half brother, arrived in the United States April 6 to retrieve his son, who was found adrift off Florida last fall after a boat sank during an attempt to smuggle Cubans into the United States. Even though Gonzalez now has custody of his son, Elian is under court order to remain in this country pending the outcome of this hearing--and possibly appeals to the full circuit court or the U.S. Supreme Court.

Enough is enough. This desperate effort by the Miami relatives to hold Elian is unlikely to prevail. The appeals court can finally bring this soap opera to a close and let Elian and his family return to their lives in Cuba. It should do so quickly.