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| HEARING DENIED | |
 June 1, 2000  |
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A federal appeals court ruled today that the Immigration and Naturalization Service acted within the law when it denied Elian Gonzalez a political asylum hearing. Bo Cooper, general counsel for the INS, provides the government's view on the ruling.
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 JIM
LEHRER: Now separate interviews with two attorneys involved in the case.
Bo Cooper is general counsel for the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Manny Diaz is one of the lawyers representing the Miami family's interests.
First, Mr. Cooper.
Mr. Cooper, welcome. |
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| "A reasonable decision" | ||||||||||||||||||||
 BO
COOPER: Thank you.
JIM LEHRER: A good and sound decision from the court? BO COOPER: Yes, from our perspective it is. The court in our view went through carefully the decision, made a fair decision in letting both parties argue their positions in a thorough and fair way. And reached the conclusion that our decision in the first place at the Immigration Service in January was a reasoned and reasonable decision. JIM LEHRER: But they didn't pass judgment on whether or not the end result was, in other words whether or not the boy should be granted asylum or not. Does that trouble you at all? BO COOPER: No, it doesn't. That's typical of what a court does in this instance. When a judiciary is evaluating an action of the executive branch, their job is not to decide what they think is the best way to deal with it or to approve it as the best or most sanctioned course. Their job is to decide if the executive branch has come up with a reasoned decision under the legislative statute, and that's what the court did here.
BO COOPER: So long as it's a reasonable one. JIM LEHRER: Now, what about the fact, they said it was on the outside border of your jurisdiction. How do you interpret that? BO COOPER: I interpret that the same way as the rest of the decision, that its job was to figure out what were the borders of a reasonable decision in this circumstance. And the court went through the decision that we made, noted the places in which we had been very careful in figuring out that it was Juan Miguel who ought to be able to speak on behalf of his 6-year-old boy in this instance and thought it was within the borders of what was reasonable. |
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| The next step | ||||||||||||||||||||
 JIM
LEHRER: All right. Let's take what may or may not happen from here on.
We'll find out from Mr. Diaz and in a moment and others. But assume that
the Miami family appeals this decision. What happens next and when does
it happen?
BO COOPER: Well, the court did two things today, in addition to upholding our executive branch decision. First, it said that the injunction against Juan Miguel's leaving the country with the child would stay in effect until the court's mandate issued, and the mandate is the instrument that makes a federal court decision effective. It also shortened the period of time that the Miami relatives could have to apply, to ask for a rehearing of the case before the 11th Circuit to 14 days. And so what happens during that period I think is best addressed to their counsel. JIM LEHRER: All right. But there are two processes here, right, they could ask for a rehearing, let's assume they don't get a rehearing. Can they appeal this to the Supreme Court?
JIM LEHRER: And that's 14 days? BO COOPER: Right. JIM LEHRER: 14 real days or 14 business days? BO COOPER: I think it's 14 real days. JIM LEHRER: Okay. Let's assume that the family does ask for a rehearing, let's assume the court does not give them a rehearing, and the family takes it to the Supreme Court. Could the boy leave then, or would they have to, in other words would the family have to get the Supreme Court to grant a new injunction keeping the boy here? Is that essentially right?
JIM LEHRER: And the Supreme Court is the only one who would grant that? BO COOPER: That would be the place to go if the 11th Circuit injunction were expired. |
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| A visit with the Miami family | ||||||||||||||||||||
| JIM LEHRER: All right. Now, you saw in our clip there that
the family in Miami would like to visit Elian. Is there a problem there?
JIM LEHRER: So your understanding is as long as - in other words -- if they appeal this, they shouldn't count on any visit, is that essentially, is that your reading of Juan Miguel Gonzalez. That's his position? BO COOPER: Well, I think it's up to the father to decide.
BO COOPER: No, we have no reason to obstruct a visit like that and would try to facilitate it if that could be arranged on appropriate circumstances. Our view always has been that resumption of good relations between the family would be best for the child, and that's -- that was desirable from the government's standpoint. But at this point, yes, I think the resumption of relationships is chiefly a matter for the families. JIM LEHRER: But the custody of Elian is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Government, is it not? BO COOPER: That's right. JIM LEHRER: I mean, he's under U.S. government protection as we speak, here in Northwest Washington, right? BO COOPER: That's right. |
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| Elian's condition | ||||||||||||||||||||
| JIM LEHRER: Can you give us any feeling for how he's doing,
what his condition is, any of that?
JIM LEHRER: Back to the legal thing, finally, Mr. Cooper, is it your feeling that this matter is approaching a final resolution? We're talking days now, no longer weeks or months? BO COOPER: It's obviously not all the way over at this point, but yes, I think that this is a very, very important step toward the resolution and one that we think is an appropriate one. JIM LEHRER: All right, Mr. Cooper, thank you very much. BO COOPER: Thank you. |
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JIM
LEHRER: Has the right to make the decision it made -- right? -- under
the law? 
BO
COOPER: They can ask the Supreme Court to hear the case. Of course the
Supreme Court review in this country is not automatic, you have to ask
the Supreme Court for permission, but they certainly have the right
to ask the Supreme Court to take the case up. The 11th Circuit's injunction
against Elian's leaving the country only lasts until the 11th Circuit's
mandate issues, which would be shortly after this period that would
expire, to ask for review by the 11th Circuit. 
BO
COOPER: Yes, if the 11th Circuit injunction expires. There are two things
now keeping the boy here. One is the 11th Circuit's injunction, which
will expire under the terms we just described. The other is an Immigration
Service instrument called a departure control order. And that is set
to be the existence as long as the 11th Circuit injunction is in existence.
So, if the 11th Circuit injunction expires, then, yes, they would have
to go and seek a further injunction from the Supreme Court. 
BO
COOPER: We've tried very hard over a long period in the preceding couple
of months to try to arrange a meeting between the families under appropriate
circumstances, and those efforts by the government to try to broker
this sort of meeting never resulted in success. At this point, it's,
I think, chiefly a matter for Juan Miguel Gonzalez to decide whether
that sort of meeting should take place -- rather than an issue for the
government to be trying to sort out itself. I do understand that Juan
Miguel wrote in the last couple weeks a letter to his relatives in Miami
suggesting that they have a meeting, but suggesting that as a condition,
as a condition of that sort of resumption of relations, they ought not
be litigants against each other in courts. I don't know what's become
of that communication.
JIM
LEHRER: Sure. But from the government's point of view, the government
would have no problem, if Juan Miguel Gonzalez said sure, if he can
work out something, you all would facilitate it, is that correct?
BO
COOPER: Well, the INS has engaged over the past few weeks the services
of a group of psychological and psychiatric advisors, first to help
advise us about what would be the best terms of transfer of care from
the Miami relatives to the father, and how best to bring that about.
But in the wake of that transfer, we also have had them during periodic
visits just to ensure that the environment is an appropriate one, and
from what I can tell things seem to be going quite well and the family
seems quite happy and the boy seems well.