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MORE ON ELIAN GONZALEZ APPEAL
Last week, lawyers for Elian Gonzalez and his Miami relatives filed an appeal requesting that the full Eleventh Circuit rehear the case.  On June 1, a three-judge panel of the court issued a decision upholding the decision of the INS to reject the asylum applications filed by Elian and those filed on his behalf.  
The lawyers have continued to press their claim that the INS exceeded its authority in rejecting the application, and they have also added a new claim based on a recent Supreme Court decision.  That case held that informal decisions reached by state and local agencies were not entitled to the same level of deference as positions adopted in a formal rulemaking proceeding.  In the latest appeal, it is argued that the INS decision to reject Elian’s asylum application is similar to this situation.  The brief filed requesting the rehearing also urges the judges to consider whether aliens have a constitutional right to seek asylum in the US. 
Many legal experts feel that even with the support of this recent decision, a victory for the Miami family is still unlikely.  Indeed, the attorneys themselves recognize that that they are facing an uphill battle in the case.  If the court declines to hear further arguments in the case, Elian will be allowed to leave the US with his father seven days after the decision. 
Elian and his father sent a Father’s Day greeting to Fidel Castro and all other fathers in Cuba which was read at a rally calling for Elian’s return to Cuba.  The letter read “On this Father's Day we want to send you an affectionate greeting and a deserved kiss from all of us, especially to the father who we love very much for his unequaled teaching and infinite love ... our commander-in-chief.”  The letter was also signed by Elian’s stepmother and classmates who are staying with him in Washington, D.C.   
Just before the newsletter was to be sent out, we learned that the Eleventh Circuit has declined to hear another appeal in the case.  This means the last forum available to the Miami family is the Supreme Court.  Because the injunction keeping Elian in the US will dissolve in the middle of next week, the family must act quickly if it to have any chance of success in its goal.