-Caveat Lector-
Published Wednesday, January 24, 2001, in the Miami Herald
Staff opposed Elián seizure
Backlash feared, INS e-mails reveal
BY JAY WEAVER [EMAIL PROTECTED]
In the weeks leading up to the seizure of Elián González, some
local employees of the Immigration and Naturalization Service
expressed grave concerns about a raid on the boy's Miami home,
saying it would be a ``black day for the nation,'' according to
INS memos cited in a lawsuit against the federal government.
In one of the memos, an INS special agent implies that Miami
Police were involved in the operation at least 11 days before the
April 22 raid to reunite the 6-year-old Cuban boy with his
father. The city's role was to provide ``outer security'' during
the seizure, according to the e-mail.
Former Miami Police Chief William O'Brien said at the time that
he was not aware of the exact timing of the raid on the Little
Havana home of the boy's relatives until the afternoon before it
was executed.
This new information came to light Tuesday as U.S. District
Judge Federico Moreno issued an order requiring a labor attorney
for some INS employees to reveal their names as part of the civil
suit by Elián's Miami relatives against the government.
The attorney, Donald Appignani, works for the union representing
the workers.
He had turned over two internal INS e-mails to lawyers
representing Elián's Miami relatives.
Appignani said Tuesday night that he had not made up his mind
whether to comply with the judge's order or appeal it.
He has cooperated with the González family's lawyers by providing
the initial deposition that accused the INS of destroying
sensitive Elián-related documents, e-mails and other information.
He also brought to light a post-raid INS souvenir, a coffee-cup
holder, that was seen as derogatory toward the exile community.
The two April 12 e-mails -- all between INS employees who are
members of the American Federation of Government Employees, Local
1458 -- reveal that some Miami INS employees thought the raid
might put district employees ``at risk of serious public
reprisals,'' such as the public criticism following a 1998 INS
raid on a West Dade flower warehouse.
In the e-mail to the union's national office, Jose M. Touron
Jr., the Miami local's vice president, said the INS employees
thought the boy should get an asylum hearing, contrary to the
INS's official stand to reunite him with his Cuban father.
``If INS intentions against the child Elián González is carried
out, it will be a black day for the nation,'' Touron wrote to the
union's national officers, including President William King,
based in Orlando.
He also copied then-INS Commissioner Doris Meissner, INS District
Director Robert Wallis and other agency officials.
Touron, speaking on behalf of INS Special Agent David Wallace,
the Miami local's shop steward, urged the union's national
officers ``to speak up'' against any plan to take the boy by
force.
SAFETY CONCERN
``You cannot remain silent on this issue,'' wrote Touron, an
immigration inspector at Miami International Airport. ``If INS
is still stubborn and still insist[s] on going down the path of
political destruction, we should care for our employees and their
security and security of their families.''
In another e-mail, Wallace told Touron that as of April 11, the
plan to reunite Elián with his father would involve Miami Police,
U.S. marshals and INS agents. He said the information was
provided by his first-line supervisor, Phil Warfield, and
confirmed with an agent from the U.S. Border Patrol office in
Pembroke Pines.
``So far all of this plan has been verbal, no written plan has
been provided,'' wrote Wallace, who Appignani said was demoted
over the e-mail. ``All agents are expected to be at work on
Thursday, April 13, 2000. No leave will be authorized for that
day.''
The night before, Attorney General Janet Reno had met with the
González family at the Miami Beach home of Sister Jeanne
O'Laughlin to discuss turning over Elián peacefully. But Lázaro
González, the boy's great-uncle, refused to budge on her request.
ORDER DEFIED
On April 13, the government gave official notice ordering
González to surrender the boy at 10 a.m. at Opa-locka Airport.
He defied that order as hundreds of Cuban exiles gathered outside
his Little Havana home, including celebrities Gloria Estefan and
Andy Garcia.
González family attorney Frank Quintero said the two INS e-mails
show there was ``dissension'' among immigration employees about
the government's planned raid and that the Miami Police were
involved in its strategic planning earlier than first thought.
He also said the e-mails show the negotiations between the boy's
Miami lawyers and the Department of Justice were a ``hoax.''
``They were buying time to finish getting ready for the raid,''
Quintero said.
=================================================================
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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