The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“REPUBLICAN PRIORITIES” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S2819-S2820 on April 25, 2000.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
REPUBLICAN PRIORITIES
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, we just heard a statement from the Senator from Pennsylvania which echoes the statements of many Republicans since the reuniting of Elian Gonzalez with his father. This was a very sad situation. The Attorney General's comments indicate she made extraordinary efforts on a personal basis and through the Department of Justice to resolve the differences between the members of this family involving this 6-year-old boy.
I am sorry it came to the process that it did in the early hours of the morning on Saturday. I understand up until the very last moment, negotiations were underway with the family, with the very basic goal of reuniting this little boy with his father.
I will never know what took place in those conversations, but I can certainly understand that when the decision was made to enforce the law, to enforce the subpoena, and to move forward, those agents who went into that home were entitled to protect themselves. They did not know, going into that home, whether there was any danger inside. The fact that they were armed, of course, is troublesome in the presence of a 6-year-old boy, but I do not believe a single one of us would ask any law enforcement agent in America--Federal, State, or local--to endanger their own lives by walking into a building without adequate protection and show of force.
I hope we will put this in perspective. I have been absolutely fascinated by the Republican response to this. To consider some of the statements that have been made by Republican leaders on Capitol Hill since this event in Miami tells us a great deal about their priorities. There is a passion, there is a commitment, there is a sense of urgency to drop everything we are doing on Capitol Hill and move into a thorough investigation of this episode which occurred in the early morning hours of Saturday to decide whether or not Attorney General Reno was doing the appropriate thing in the way she approached it.
My question to the Republican majority in the Senate and the House is: Where is your passion, where is your sense of urgency, where is your commitment when it comes to the gun violence which is occurring on the streets of America every single day?
Yesterday, here in our Nation's Capital, families who gathered at the National Zoo for an annual holiday witnessed gun violence which claimed some seven victims, one of whom is now on life support and may not survive. Yet for a year--one solid year--the Republican leadership on Capitol Hill has refused to bring forward any gun safety legislation. Overnight they can call for an investigation of Attorney General Reno. Overnight they can bring her to Capitol Hill because of this question of what occurred in Miami. But for one solid year, they have been unwilling and unable to step up and do anything about gun safety to protect children and families across America.
Mr. DORGAN. Will the Senator yield?
Mr. DURBIN. No one was injured in the house of Elian Gonzalez's relatives in Miami. Thank God. But kids are injured every day across America. Twelve children are killed every day across America because of gun violence, and this Republican majority, which has this passion to investigate, ought to have the passion to legislate, to pass laws to make America safer. I would like to see some proportionality in the way they respond to the real issues facing American families.
I yield to my colleague from North Dakota.
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I appreciate the Senator yielding to me.
This is a very sad chapter. It is a story of a 6-year-old child who has been used as a political football now for some many months--yes, by Fidel Castro, but also by some in this country--and it ought to stop. What happened the other morning in Miami is something none of us wants to see in this country, but it happened without violence occurring. No one was injured, and the fact is, a 6-year-old boy was restored to his father's care.
I have heard all of the stories and all of the words. I watched television last evening. I heard irresponsible statements about Waco, about storm troopers, all kinds of conjecture about secret meetings between Fidel Castro and officials in this country. Look, those things serve no purpose at this point.
This is a 6-year-old boy whose mother died and who now has been restored to the care of his father. Are there those here who believe that a 6-year-old boy whose father loves him should not be restored to the care of his father? If so, then let's have a long debate about parental rights. I suspect they do not want to restore this young boy to the care of his father because his father is a Cuban and he will go back to Cuba and that is a Communist country. But I do not see people coming to the floor of the Senate talking much about the fate of the children in Vietnam--that is a Communist country--or the fate of the children in China--that is a Communist country.
All of a sudden, this one 6-year-old child whose mother is dead and whose father wants him, because he comes from Cuba, does not have the right to be restored to the care of his father? Something is wrong with this.
I understand there is great passion on all sides. The Attorney General was faced with an awful choice, and she made a choice. The choice she made was to use whatever show of force was necessary--not force; show of force was necessary--to prevent violence while they were able to get this boy and restore him to the care of his father.
The fact is, it worked. In a little under 3 minutes, they were able to get this boy. This boy, now we see in a smiling picture, is in his father's arms where he ought to be.
I know we can criticize Janet Reno and others till the Sun goes down and every day thereafter, but it is not going to change the fact that this boy belongs with his father. We all know that. We should not use this boy for some broader political purpose of U.S.-Cuba relations, anti-Castroism, this, that, or the other thing. This is not about Fidel Castro. This is about a 6-year-old child and his father.
Mr. LEAHY. Will the Senator yield?
Mr. DORGAN. I am happy to yield.
Mr. LEAHY. I am pleased to hear both of my distinguished colleagues talking about the necessity to protect those who go into a situation such as that. In an earlier career in law enforcement I had the experience of going on raids or arrests or hostage situations, oftentimes in the middle of the night. They are a very frightening thing.
I suspect those immigration officers and marshals also have families who worry about whether they are going to come back alive. They are entitled to some protection, too. They talk about a frightening picture of a man so intimidating that everybody would stand still. His finger was not on the trigger of his gun. If you look at the picture, the safety was on the weapon. An unarmed female INS officer, with no body armor or anything else, came in there, putting her own life at risk so the little boy would not be frightened when she picked him up. And she spoke to him in Spanish.
The Miami relatives could have avoided this. The Miami relatives took a position they wanted to help little Elian and hurt Fidel Castro. They helped Fidel Castro and hurt little Elian. They should have given him back to his father long ago. Instead, they made this whole situation necessary.
The officers who went in there are entitled to protect themselves. If I were their spouse, if I were their child, I would hope that they would. Then to accuse them of brainwashing or drugging this little boy is scandalous. These marshals, who took the little boy into their custody, are sworn to give their own life, if necessary, to protect the person they have in their custody.
They were there to protect the little boy. They did protect the little boy. He is now back with his father where he belongs.
I resent the statement of some of the Miami relatives saying these pictures of a happy child with his father are doctored, that it is not really little Elian, that they substituted someone else for him, or that the marshals drugged him. One relative even said the only reason he called his father from the airplane was because they put a gun to his head. This is outrageous.
These brave men and women, who constantly put their lives on the line to protect the people of this country, including oftentimes Members of Congress, ought to be praised.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, how much time is remaining?
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Frist). Twenty seconds.
Mr. DURBIN. Let me close by saying I hope we will see the same passion, the same commitment, the same sense of urgency from the Republican side when it comes to gun safety legislation, when it comes to legislation for a Patients' Bill of Rights, when it comes to a prescription drug benefit, as we have seen in their passion to continue to investigate every member of the Clinton administration.
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