April 24, 2000
Lawmakers call for probe into the taking of 6-year-old
By Joyce Howard Price
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Senior members of Congress, including Republicans and
Democrats, yesterday called for a congressional investigation of
the seizure of Elian Gonzalez by heavily armed federal agents in
the pre-dawn Miami darkness Saturday morning.
"You bet there will be congressional hearings. . . . I was
outraged," Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, the majority whip, told
interviewers on NBC-TV's "Meet the Press."
"I was sickened, and afterwards I was ashamed."
Sen. Bob Graham of Florida, a Democrat, said President
Clinton promised him three weeks ago that the boy would not be
taken in the middle of the night.
"I stood in the Oval Office with the president of the United
States, and I said: 'Mr. President, this is a very sensitive
issue that's happening in my community. One of the things that
has made it so tense is that people feel insecure 24 hours a day.
There needs to be some commitment by the federal government that
they will not attempt to take this child in the nighttime so that
there can be a relaxation of that tension.'
"The president of the United States made that commitment to
me that there would be no taking of this child at night. I felt
that my �the promise that had been made to me had been abrogated.
I don't know if the president knew that the decision was being
made by lower echelons within his administration, but it was a
clear commitment which was violated?"
Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, a Republican member of
the Judiciary Committee, questioned the legality of the raid and
the "professionalism and judgment" of those who planned and
executed it. "I believe that the Department of Justice should
have gone to court for a court order [before the seizure], should
have followed procedures on appeal.
"I believe that the Senate Judiciary Committee should take a
close look at the propriety of the government breaking into the
uncle's house in the middle of the night."
Mr. Specter, a former prosecutor, said the Judiciary
Committee should hold hearings about what happened.
The raid and seizure dominated news talk shows yesterday,
with reactions from politicians generally following party lines.
Sen. Connie Mack of Florida, a Republican, accused the
Clinton administration of using "raw terror to bring about the
conclusion that they were looking for." Mr. Mack said on "Fox
News Sunday" that Senate leaders want immediate answers from
Attorney General Janet Reno, who authorized the raid. He said
Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, the majority leader, told him
that "he's inviting Janet Reno to meet with us Tuesday morning."
In a rare front-page editorial, the Miami Herald yesterday
demanded a congressional investigation of the raid. "The evidence
clearly suggests that the Miami relatives were, at last, prepared
to voluntarily deliver Elian to his father within a very short
time. A full and independent investigation of this matter is
warranted."
Mr. Specter said "a court order to authorize a search and
seizure" is required when police want to search the property of a
criminal suspect. "When you have governmental action as forceful
as this, you put an independent judge magistrate between the
government and the individual."
Mr. DeLay said on NBC: "There was no court order that gave
them permission to raid a private home of an American citizen . .
. no search warrant, nothing."
Doris M. Meissner, the commissioner of the Immigration and
Naturalization Service, insisted on CBS-TV's "Face the Nation"
that her agency had a legal warrant to remove Elian from the
Miami home. "We had a search warrant, which we got from a federal
judge around 6 o'clock that evening. It was a perfectly legal,
properly carried out operation."
Late yesterday, the Justice Department released a copy of
the warrant obtained Friday night from a federal magistrate in
Miami authorizing agents to search the home for Elian and "to
seize same."
Former Solicitor General Walter Dellinger told ABC-TV
interviewers that the Justice Department did not need a warrant
to enter Lazaro Gonzalez's home. There was no question that the
attorney general had the legal authority to terminate the
great-uncle's temporary custody, he said.
On CNN's "Late Edition," Rep. Charles B. Rangel, New York
Democrat, dismissed the calls for congressional hearings as mere
politics. "I think we all ought to take a deep breath and say the
only thing left now is for the kid and his father to be allowed
to return to Cuba," he said.
Rep. David Dreier, California Republican, who was also on
the show, said he is "going to encourage my colleagues on the
appropriate committees" to examine how the raid was handled.
Replied Mr. Rangel: "Let's have the hearings . . . but if
the Republican leadership wants to have hearings, then we have to
find out whether or not the attorney general . . . had any
options."
The first public-opinion poll, by CNN-Gallup, was released
yesterday, showing that 57 percent of those polled approved of
uniting Elian with his father, and 37 percent did not; 40 percent
said too much force was used, 36 percent said just the right
amount was used. Six of 10 polled said Elian would be better off
in Cuba.
Jerry Seper contributed to this report.
####
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