Tim Padgett Quotations

The ruling leaves the immediate question of Elian's custody back in the hands of the Justice Department. Reno is free to send marshals in to get the boy and reunite him with his father, but the court's decision may make it politically harder for her to order action because the Little Havana community believes it has won a big victory, and could become even more volatile if the feds try to remove Elian from Miami.

We've had numerous trees and power lines down, numerous homes that are damaged, and we are still handling emergencies.

The federal government can simply come up with a court order that will force Lazaro Gonzalez to comply or otherwise face the prospect of going to jail.

The feeling on the ground here was that neither the family nor the Cuban-American leadership had any intention of ever handing the boy over. For weeks they'd essentially told the government that the only way to get the boy was to come and fetch him. To anyone watching this unfold over the last few weeks, the claim that a deal was near in the wee hours before the raid rings a little hollow.