José E. Serrano: “Elian Gonzalez will be the only person in the history of this country to have citizenship and/or residency shoved down…”

“Elian Gonzalez will be the only person in the history of this country to have citizenship and/or residency shoved down his throat. He has not asked for it and the guardian who we accept is speaking for him in Cuba has rejected it. In the meantime, there are 2 million folks awaiting citizenship in this country who followed the law and will not get it on that date. There are 9 million undocumented aliens who will not receive residency on that date. The arrogance of all of this is that for the first time ever we are going back on a promise. We have said for years that we are not trying to hurt the Cuban people, but rather the Cuban government. From a desire to hurt the Cuban government, we now question grandparents' love for their grandchild, after all, they are only tools of the Communist government, and fathers' love for their child. I have spent 3 days with the grandmothers. We all know grannies. They do not seem to me to be crying Communist tears or Socialist tears. They are crying the tears of grandparents who want Elian back. They show me pictures of his room, of his toys. They said to me, 'We cannot provide him trips to Disneyland or Disney World. We cannot provide him an electric car, but we love him, and we want him back.'”