Date: Tue, 2 May 2000
Calls on Behalf of Elian to US Government Officials
Thomas M. Miovas, Jr.
This afternoon, I called several United States Government
Officials regarding the Elian Gonzalez case. Among these were:
Representative Congressman Dick Armey (Irving, Texas), Texas
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Texas Senator Phil Gramm, and
Fort Worth Naval Air Station (Carswell Field) Air Force Legal
Office.
While I was not able to speak to the Texas Senators or my
Representative directly, their secretaries assured me my
concerns would be passed on. I expressed my concerns regarding
the violation of the Fourth Amendment in this case; though not
merely the illegal search & seizure, but the right of an
American citizen to house an individual wanted by the
authorities until an arrest warrant is issued under the Fourth
Amendment. I also expressed my concerns regarding the
jurisdiction of INS officers to raid an American citizen's home.
Hearings still seem to be in the works regarding the raid
(though not according to many news casts).
I called Carswell Naval Air Station to get a legal answer to the
use of Andrews AFB by the Justice Department and the INS shortly
after the raid. The legal officer told me that though this was a
very unusual case, access to military bases can be granted to
the Justice Department and the INS, since they are both Federal
branches of the government. She also added that the orders to
give the Justice Department and the INS temporary control of the
base would have had to have come from someone of higher rank
than the commander of the base.
I was going to try to find out if the agents involved in the
raid might be able to be put up on false arrest charges
(especially the INS dealing with American citizens in such a
manner), seeing that they had no arrest warrants, but the INS
web site is not searchable (calling them is hopeless, as I have
found out before). It would also be interesting to find out the
legal technicalities on what is considered to be an arrest by
either Federal Marshals or INS Agents. I do know that if a
police officer pulls you over for a traffic violation, that's
not considered to be an arrest; but if he asks you to get into
his police car or asks you to get down on the ground and put
your hands behind your back, it technically is considered to be
an arrest. Since the Miami relatives and others in the Miami
home were ordered to get down on the floor, would that be
considered an arrest? and if so, on what grounds can they be put
under arrest? I guess such issues will have to be left up to the
lawyers for the Miami relatives and others in the house.
Regarding this latter issue, a friend of mine sent me a link to
a report on NewsMax.com explaining why such legal issues may be
derailed by the top lawyer of the group. You can read it at:
www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=2000/4/29/203412
That same friend and myself watched my VCR recorded reports
starting from Janet Reno's statement about the seizure early
Saturday morning and throughout the following week, and we have
concluded there is a lot of sanctioning of the victim going on
in this case. The above NewsMax article is an indication of this
on the legal side. On the moral side, so long as the Miami
relatives (and others involved in the case, as well as Miami
Cuban descent residents) were pushing for family reunification
with Juan Miguel, they were acting against themselves regarding
Elian's rights; because such a stance almost insures that Juan
Miguel would get custody and Elian would be returned to Cuba (at
least that's the way we see it, though a custody court hearing
may see it differently).
