wfn.org | NCCCUSA Genl Secy Welcomes Ruling In Elian's Case

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@wfn.org>]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA

Email: news@ncccusa.org Web: www.nccusa.org
Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2227
30NCC3/21/2000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NCC GENERAL SECRETARY WELCOMES RULING IN ELIAN'S CASE

March 21, 2000, NEW YORK CITY - "Delighted but not surprised" at a federal 
judge's ruling that only the U.S. attorney general can grant asylum to 
Elian Gonzalez, National Council of Churches General Secretary Dr. Bob 
Edgar today said, "I only wish it had come sooner."

"Elian should have been home before Christmas," Dr. Edgar said. "I urge the 
Immigration and Naturalization Service to move quickly in returning Elian 
to his father, grandparents and great-grandmother." Dr. Edgar added that he 
has left a message for I.N.S. Commissioner Doris Meissner indicating that 
the National Council of Churches stands "ready to help, if needed."

The NCC and Cuban Council of Churches have been working since December - at 
first quietly and then publicly - for six-year-old Elian's return to his 
father and extended family in Cardenas, Cuba. "If a parent is loving, 
caring and not abusive, a child should be with his or her parent, and Juan 
Miguel Gonzalez is a loving father," Dr. Edgar said.

The Council's efforts on Elian's behalf were particularly intense and 
time-consuming in January, when an NCC delegation visited Elian's family in 
Cuba (Jan. 2-5) and then hosted Elian's grandmothers during their 
mid-January U.S. visit. "It was worth it," Dr. Edgar said, putting the 
NCC's efforts on Elian's behalf in the context of the ecumenical body's 
"commitment to and compassion for all children, whether they are in 
Mozambique, Bangladesh or held in a house in Miami."

Among lessons from the project: "The federal government needs to move more 
quickly, and there are limits to what governments can do. People-to-people 
efforts often bear more fruit," Dr. Edgar said.
He said the NCC will continue to work in collaboration with the Cuban 
Council of Churches for normalization of relations between the United 
States and Cuba.

-end-