Elian Gonzalez
| Elián González | |
|---|---|
| Born |
December 6, 1993 Cuba |
| Nationality | Cuban |
| Alma mater | University of Matanzas |
| Organization | Young Communist League |
| Known for | Child custody and immigration case |
| Parent(s) | Juan Miguel González Quintana (father) Elizabeth Brotons Rodríguez (mother, deceased) |
| Relatives | Lázaro González (paternal great-uncle) |
Elián González (born December 6, 1993) is a Cuban man who, as a young boy in 2000, became embroiled in a heated international custody and immigration controversy involving the governments of Cuba and the United States, his father, Juan Miguel González Quintana, his other relatives in Miami, Florida, and in Cuba, and Miami's Cuban American community.
González's mother, Elizabeth Brotons Rodríguez, drowned in November 1999 while attempting to leave Cuba with González and her boyfriend to get to the United States. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) initially placed González with maternal relatives in Miami, who sought to keep him in the United States against his father's demands that González be returned to Cuba. A federal district court's ruling that only González's father, and not his extended relatives, could petition for asylum on the boy's behalf was upheld by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. After the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case, federal agents took González from the maternal relatives and returned him to his father in Cuba in June 2000.
Many Cubans had left Cuba for the United States since the Cuban Revolution of 1959. This emigration was illegal under both Cuban and U.S. laws; e.g., any Cuban found at sea attempting to reach U.S. shores could be deported by the United States or be arrested by Cuba authorities.
U.S. policy has evolved into a "wet feet, dry feet" rule. If a Cuban was picked up at sea or walking toward shore, they were repatriated unless they could make a claim of asylum. If they made it to shore (or entered through Mexico) before encountering U.S. authorities, they were generally allowed to remain in the country.
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Wikipedia