half his time with his father
In April, I continued to travel the country pushing my education, gun safety, and technology access issues from the State of the Union address; established another national monument, Grand Sequoia, in California; vetoed the bill to put all Americas low-level nuclear waste in Nevada because I didnt think all the legitimate questions had been answered; signed the bill ending the earnings limitations for retirees who were collecting Social Security; visited the people of the Navajo Nation in Shiprock in northern New Mexico to highlight our efforts to use the Internet to bring educational, health, and economic opportunities to remote communities; and dedicated the simple but powerful memorial to the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing, 168 empty chairs in rows on a small knoll flanked by two large entryways and overlooking a large reflecting pool.
April also brought the final act in the long saga of little Elin Gonzlez. Several months earlier his mother had fled Cuba with him for the United States in a rickety boat. The boat capsized and she drowned after putting Elin in an inner tube to save his life. The boy was taken to Miami and put in the temporary custody of a great-uncle, who was willing to keep him. His father in Cuba wanted him back. The Cuban-American community made Elins case a crusade, saying that his mother had died trying to bring her son to freedom and it would be wrong to send him back to Castros dictatorship.
The governing law seemed clear. The Immigration and Naturalization Service was supposed to determine whether the boys father was a fit parent; if he was, Elin had to be returned to him. An INS team went to Cuba and discovered that though Elins parents were divorced, they had maintained a good relationship and had shared child-rearing duties. In fact, Elin had spent about half his time with his father, who lived closer to the boys school. The INS found that Juan Miguel Gonzlez was a fit parent.
Advocates for the American relatives took the case to court in an attempt to question the validity of the process in Cuba, thinking it might have been compromised by the presence of Castros people at the hearing. Some sought to apply the normal state-law standard in child custody cases: what is in the best interest of the child? The Congress got in on the act, with various bills being proposed to keep Elin in the United States. Meanwhile, the Cuban-American community was whipped into a frenzy by permanent demonstrations outside the house of Elins relatives and regular TV interviews with one of them
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