Expand All Collapse All Extent 122 folders, approximately 7,697 pages Summary This collection consists of records related Elian Gonzalez. Elian, a young Cuban boy, was rescued off the coast of Florida in late 1999 and quickly became embroiled in an international custody dispute. The collection contains correspondence, memoranda, congressional statements, legal briefs, judicial opinions, press guidance, schedules, newspaper articles, and emails. Scope and Content Note The materials in FOIA 2012-0371-F are a selective body of documents responsive to the topic of the FOIA. Researchers should consult the archivist about related material. FOIA 2012-0371-F contains records on the custody battle for Elian Gonzalez. Initially, an immigration issue, the case of Elian Gonzalez complicated the already testy U.S.-Cuban relationship and quickly became a political and emotional issue for many. Elian Gonzalez, a six-year-old Cuban national, was rescued off the coast of Florida on November 25, 1999, after the boat in which he and 10 others were traveling capsized. His mother drowned in the incident, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) released the child into the custody of his paternal relatives in Miami. A tug of war quickly developed over the young boy. The Cuban government wanted him returned immediately to Cuba to be raised by his father, while his relatives in Miami and many Cuban exiles insisted he would have a better life in the U.S. In early January 2000, after twice interviewing his father in Cuba, the INS determined that Elian's father had the sole legal authority to speak for Elian regarding his immigration status, and that Elian should be reunited with his father. The family in Miami asked the court system to review the INS decision, specifically requesting a hearing on his application for asylum. The U.S. relatives believed that Elian had a constitutionally protected right to apply for political asylum regardless of his age or his father's statements. After a district court judge denied the asylum lawsuit, Attorney General Janet Reno ordered the relatives to turn over Elian to the custody of his father, who had travelled from Cuba on a visa. The U.S. family refused the order, and in a dramatic raid on the relative’s home by federal agents, Elian was taken away on April 22, 2000. After multiple appeals all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, Elian, with his father and friends, returned to Cuba on June 28, 2000. The records responsive to this FOIA consist of material from the Chief of Staff’s Office, Counsel’s Office, Domestic Policy Office, Legislative Affairs Office, and the National Security Council (NSC) staff offices that had responsibility for this matter, including NSC’s Legal Advisor, Inter-American Affairs, and Multilateral & Humanitarian Affairs. The records contain correspondence, memorandums, press guidance, newspaper articles, court filings and opinions, emails, schedules, talking points, questions and answers, and notes concerning the Elian Gonzalez case. The records also contain email from the Automated Records Management System (ARMS). Email from ARMS consists of congressional correspondence regarding representatives’ positions on the Gonzalez case. ARMS email also contain drafts of Statements of Administrative Position, and NSC and White House press guidance concerning the Gonzalez matter. Record Type Textual System of Arrangement Records that are responsive to this FOIA request were found in these collection areas— Clinton Presidential Records: WHORM Alpha Project; Clinton Presidential Records: WHORM Subject Files; Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files; Clinton Presidential Records: Automated Records Management System [Email]; and Clinton Presidential Records: NSC Cable, Email, and Records Management Systems. The White House Office of Records Management (WHORM) contains a variety of series created to organize and track documents and correspondence. The WHORM Subject file was compiled by the White House Office of Records Management and is a series of categories designated by a letter/number combination. In addition, there are WHORM (Alpha Project) series. Staff and Office files were maintained at the folder level by staff members within their individual offices and document all levels of administration activity. WHORM files are processed at the document level; whereas, Staff and Office files are processed at the folder level, that is, individual documents are not selected and removed from a folder for processing. While this method maintains folder integrity, it frequently results in the incidental processing of documents that are not wholly responsive to the subject area. The Automated Records Management System (ARMS) is a database that contains email records of the Executive Office of the President. This system maintained unclassified Presidential email. The ARMS database is comprised of six sub-series of email records called "buckets." The buckets generally represent a specific White House office. The buckets are titled: NPR for National Performance Review, OPD for Office of Policy Development, POTUS for President of the United States, WHO for White House Office, CEA for Council of Economic Advisers, and Default for emails not associated with an office. The OPD bucket contains email created or received by an individual with an Office of Policy Development (OPD) White House user account. The WHO bucket contains email created or received by individual with an Executive Office of the President White House user account not identified as CEA, NPR, or OPD. ARMS emails are arranged by topic, there-under by bucket, and there-under chronologically by creation date. FOIA 2012-0371-F includes WHORM records from these subject codes: CO045 Counties – Cuba, Republic of FG001 Federal Government – President of the United States FG001-08 Federal Government – Presidential Telephone Calls FG017 Federal Government – Department of Justice FG017-03 Federal Government – Immigration and Naturalization Service FG033-05 Federal Government - Budget IM Immigration - Naturalization PR002 Public Relations – Administrative Complaints - Criticism PR012 Public Relations – Petitions – Resolutions – Multiple Signatures PR013-08 Public Relations – Opinions – Statements – Questionnaires - Articles ST009 State Governments - Florida Access Collection is open to all researchers. Access to Clinton Presidential Records is governed by the Presidential Records Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. Chapter 22, as amended) and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. 552, as amended) and therefore records may be restricted in whole or in part in accordance with legal exemptions. Copyright Documents in this collection that were prepared by officials of the United States government as part of their official duties are in the public domain. Researchers are advised to consult the copyright law of the United States (17 U.S.C. Chapter 1) which governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Provenance Official records of William Jefferson Clinton’s presidency are housed at the Clinton Presidential Library and administered by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) under the provisions of the Presidential Records Act (PRA). Processed by Staff Archivist, 2016. Previously restricted materials are added as they are released. Last Modified Date 2017-07-03 Container List The following is a list of documents and folders processed in response to FOIA 2012-0371-F: Box 1 Clinton Presidential Records: WHORM: Alpha Project 423796 – [Folder 4] Elian Gonzalez Batch [OA/ID 17202] 424228 – Elian Gonzalez Case [OA/ID 18208] 432819 – [Folder 2] Elian Gonzalez [OA/ID 18591] Clinton Presidential Records: WHORM: Subject Files CO045 404468 CO045 406235 CO045 406235SS CO045 407603 CO045 407654 CO045 407993 CO045 408766 CO045 408776 [CO045] 408932 CO045 410578 [CO045] 417931 [CO045] 417944 [CO045] 418016 CO045 418152 [CO045 418421 CO045 420891 CO045 420891SS FG001 427447 [Answer on Elian] FG001 427447 [Letter from Bill Richardson to POTUS RE: Post-Elian Strategy] FG001 427447 [Letter from Edward A. Powell, Jr. to POTUS RE: Elian Decision] FG001 427447 [Letter from Jeb Bush to POTUS and Janet Reno RE: Elian] FG001-08 417549 FG017 413870 FG017-03 408905 FG017-03 410226 [FG033-05] 416584 IM 408757 IM 408904 IM 408906 IM 412044 IM 414039 IM 414408 IM 419410 IM 419906 PR002 417889 PR012 408758 PR012 408907 PR012 417905 PR012 417933 PR012 418010 PR012 421547 PR013-08 418981 PR013-08 418981SS ST009 408853 [ST009] 418412 Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files Chief of Staff Echaveste, Maria Gonzalez, Elian [1] [OA/ID 19776] Box 2 Gonzalez, Elian [2] [OA/ID 19776] Echaveste, Maria; Tarmey Marjorie Elian Letters [OA/ID 16803] Communications Gehrke, Mike Elian Gonzalez – Department of Justice [OA/ID 19997] Correspondence Presidential Letters Elian Gonzalez Files [OA/ID 15613] Counsel’s Office Chirwa, Dawn Immigration Issues-Elian Gonzalez [OA/ID CF 1660] General Files #2 [Elian Gonzalez] [OA/ID 20840] #2 Elian Gonzalez [OA/ID 20840] Elian Gonzalez General [1] [OA/ID 20840] Elian Gonzalez General [2] [OA/ID 20840] Elian Gonzalez General [3] [OA/ID 20840] Box 3 Domestic Policy Council Bueno, Irene Elian Gonzalez Legislation [OA/ID 25025] Elian Gonzalez Legislation: Articles [OA/ID 25025] Elian Gonzalez Legislation: Legislation [OA/ID 25025] Elian Gonzalez Legislation: Notes [OA/ID 25025] Legislative Affairs Magana, Mark Elian Gonzalez – Cuba [1] [OA/ID 22037] Elian Gonzalez – Cuba [2] [OA/ID 22037] Patel, Devanshu Elian Gonzalez/Cuba [OA/ID 21941] Subject Files Elian Gonzalez [1] [OA/ID 22046] Elian Gonzalez [2] [OA/ID 22046] Box 4 Elian Gonzalez [3] [OA/ID 22046] National Security Council Interamerican Affairs Hollis, Caryn Cuba-Elian Gonzalez [1] [OA/ID 2925] Cuba-Elian Gonzalez [2] [OA/ID 2925] Cuba-Elian Gonzalez [3] [OA/ID 2925] Legal Advisor DeRosa, Mary Gonzalez, Elian Litigation [1] [OA/ID 2845] Gonzalez, Elian Litigation [2] [OA/ID 2845] Box 5 Immigration (Elian Gonzalez) [1] [OA/ID 2544] Immigration (Elian Gonzalez) [2] [OA/ID 2544] Immigration (Elian Gonzalez Filings) [1] [OA/ID 2543] Immigration (Elian Gonzalez Filings) [2] [OA/ID 2543] Immigration (Elian Gonzalez Filings) [3] [OA/ID 2543] Immigration (Elian Gonzalez Filings) [4] [OA/ID 2543] Immigration (Elian Gonzalez Opinions) [1] [OA/ID 2543] Box 6 Immigration (Elian Gonzalez Opinions) [2] [OA/ID 2543] Multilateral and Humanitarian Affairs Patten, Wendy Elian Gonzalez [1] [OA/ID 3135] Elian Gonzalez [2] [OA/ID 3135] Elian Gonzalez [3] [OA/ID 3135] Elian Gonzalez [4] [OA/ID 3135] Elian Gonzalez [5] [OA/ID 3135] Elian Gonzalez [6] [OA/ID 3135] Box 7 Elian Gonzalez [7] [OA/ID 3135] Elian Gonzalez [8] [OA/ID 3135] Wippman, David/Feldman, Daniel Elian [Gonzalez] [OA/ID 2547] Press Secretary Engebresten, Jenni Cuba – Elian [OA/ID 21373] Clinton Presidential Records: Automated Records Management System [Email] OPD [OA/ID 250000] [Elian Gonzalez] [12/08/1999 – 02/16/2000] WHO [OA/ID 500000] [Elian Gonzalez] [12/08/1999 – 01/26/2000] [01/26/2000 – 06/27/2000] NSC [OA/ID 1200000] [Elian or Cuban Boy] [12/10/1999-06/20/2000] Box 8 Clinton Presidential Records: NSC Cable, Email, and Records Management System NSC Email Exchange-Record (Sept 97-Jan 01) [OA/ID 620000] [Elian or Cuban Boy] [12/06/1999-01/03/2000] [01/04/2000-01/07/2000] [01/10/2000-01/24/2000] [01/25/2000-02/01/2000] [02/02/2000-02/26/2000] [03/01/2000-03/27/2000] [03/28/2000-03/31/2000] [04/03/2000-04/17/2000] Box 9 NSC Email Exchange-Record (Sept 97-Jan 01) [OA/ID 620000] [Elian or Cuban Boy] [04/18/2000-05/24/2000] [05/25/2000-07/19/2000] Exchange-Non-Record (Mar 97-Jan 01) [OA/ID 630000] [Elian or Cuban Boy] [12/09/1999-01/07/2000] [01/09/2000-07/03/2000] NSC Records Management [Elian] 9909257 [OA/ID 43327] 9909279 [OA/ID 2767] 0000029 [OA/ID 4072] 0000130 [OA/ID 4072] 0002188 [OA/ID 4084] 0002232 [OA/ID 4084] 0002237 [OA/ID 4084] 0002310 [OA/ID 4085] 0002671 [OA/ID 4087] 0003655 [OA/ID 4093] 0003716 [OA/ID 4093] 0003906 [OA/ID 4094] 0004233 [OA/ID 4096]