-Caveat Lector-
Lawyer: INS ordered Eli�n files destroyed
Ft. lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
By DAVID C�ZARES
Web-posted: 11:33 p.m. Jan. 5, 2001
Miami employees of the Immigration and Naturalization Service
were ordered to destroy or conceal documents and electronic mail
related to the Eli�n Gonz�lez case, according to a deposition by
an attorney who represents INS workers.
In a deposition given last month for the federal lawsuit that
Eli�n's Miami relatives have filed against the U.S. government,
Coral Springs attorney Donald Appignani testified that INS
employees had told him that "the U.S. government could be
breaking the law."
"Basically, that is what I heard," Appignani testified. "People
were instructed to remove anything derogatory to the Eli�n
Gonz�lez case."
Appignani, a labor lawyer who represents the union that bargains
for INS employees and also handles the employees' equal
employment complaints against the government, would not reveal
which employees told him of the orders, who gave the
instructions, or what information the documents and e-mail
contained. He said he did not hear the orders directly; they
were related to him by employees.
At the urging of his clients, Appignani in November approached
lawyer Ronald Guralnick with the information. Guralnick
represents the family of L�zaro Gonz�lez, the great-uncle who
tried to keep the boy here and is now suing the federal
government and Miami police, claiming the April 22 raid that
removed the boy violated the family's constitutional rights.
Guralnick deems the information so valuable that he has asked
U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno to order Appignani to
disclose all he knows.
"This is a major break in the case," Guralnick said. "I'm
looking forward to the court's ruling on our motion to compel
attorney Appignani to testify to the questions he refused to
answer at deposition, and I'm looking forward to talking to his
clients."
Aloyma M. Sanchez, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's
Office, said it would support Guralnick's motion to compel
Appignani to provide more detail.
"These are serious allegations," Sanchez said. "We want to
uncover the truth."
Appignani also testified that INS employees thought there was an
atmosphere of contempt toward Cuban-Americans at the INS regional
office in Miami, which could prove detrimental to the government
if brought out at trial before a jury.
He said he saw a cup circulated at INS offices with a plastic
wrapper imprinted with a Cuban flag inside a circle with a red
line drawn through it. On the other side was an image of a
stopwatch with the number 154 inside -- for the 154 seconds it
took agents to remove Eli�n from his Miami relatives' home.
Appignani also confirmed he had told Guralnick that, after the
raid, INS Regional Director Robert Wallis told about 50 INS
employees that "it was the happiest day of his life when he saw a
photograph of a person on the ground with a gun pointed at his
head, because before the negotiations (between the Justice
Department and the relatives' lawyers) this person wouldn't shake
his hand." Appignani said he did not hear Wallis say this but was
told he had. Wallis could not be reached for comment Friday.
Under questioning from Justice Department Attorney Nina
Pelletier, Appignani said he did not go to the authorities after
employees told him they thought laws had been broken but went to
Guralnick because that's what his clients had asked him to do.
In court documents, Appignani said he should not have to reveal
who his clients are because they fear reprisal by their
employers, the INS and the Justice Department.
"I don't really know if anything illegal was done or not, but
it's not my position to figure that out," he said. "The reason
they didn't go to the authorities is because the authorities are
the employer and the defendant in the case." It's uncertain how
much the INS employees' complaints will play in the trial because
unless Guralnick and his investigators can prove that INS
officials ordered the destruction of evidence, it would be
difficult to allege a crime.
=================================================================
Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
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