Republican senators grilled the US Attorney General, Ms Janet Reno, yesterday over her handling of the seizure of Elian Gonzalez by armed agents from the home of his Miami relatives at the weekend.
As the session went on for two hours behind closed doors on Capitol Hill, much of the Little Havana area of Miami came to a standstill in response to the call for a one-day general strike by the Cuban immigrant community to protest against the forcible transfer of Elian to his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez. But life went on as normal in the rest of Miami with tourists sunbathing on the beaches and strolling among the shops.
Meanwhile, Elian, his father, stepmother and stepbrother, were moved yesterday from Andrews airforce base to "an undisclosed location". Later it was confirmed that this was a private residence on the edge of a government conference centre at Wye River in eastern Maryland where Middle East peace talks were held last year.
President Clinton yesterday appealed to the media and the public to give Elian's family "the space it needs to heal its wounds and strengthen its bonds". He commended the efforts of the Attorney General and others involved in the transfer of Elian to his father. "It was a very, very difficult job to do with no easy choices," Mr Clinton said.
The State Department announced that it was expediting applications for visas for four of Elian's Cuban playmates and their parents to visit the US.
The move of Elian and his family took place shortly before the Miami relatives of Elian, with whom he had been living until last week, made their fourth unsuccessful attempt to enter Andrews base to see the boy and his father. They were turned back by guards.
The White House has continued to reject criticism that there was no justification for using armed federal agents to burst into the home of the Miami relatives to seize the six-year-old Elian. The White House spokesman, Mr Joe Lockhart, has also criticised Republican attempts to hold Congressional hearings.
"The top Republican leadership with one voice and very loudly condemned the operation and now they are saying, `Let's find out about it'," Mr Lockhart said on ABC's Good Morning America. "That's backward. I think most average Americans outside the Beltway [Washington ring road] will understand that normal people get information first and then make a judgment."
The Clinton administration will be heartened with the results of a Gallup poll for CNN/USA Today showing that 60 per cent of Americans approved of federal agents removing Elian from his Miami great-uncle, Mr Lazaro Gonzalez and his daughter, Marisleysis. Some 62 per cent believe that the relatives would not have turned over Elian if the federal agents had not been armed.
Mr Clinton received 43 per cent approval and 41 per cent disapproval for the way he handled the situation. Ms Reno's handling was approved by 47 per cent and disapproved by 43 per cent.
At the closed-door meeting with Republican and Democratic senators yesterday, Ms Reno was closely questioned about the sequence of events leading up to her order to federal agents to remove Elian forcibly in a predawn raid last Saturday. She was also questioned about how the raid was carried out and whether the agents had to be so heavily armed.
Later, two senators from Florida, Mr Connie Mack (Republican) and Mr Bob Graham (Democrat) said they would be asking for formal public hearings into the seizure.
But two Democratic senators who were also at the meeting, Mr Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and Mr Patrick Leahy of Vermont, said they were fully satisfied with Ms Reno's explanations and did not see any need for public hearings.
Senator Dodd said it was a "very calm" meeting. But it was clear that Ms Reno had to move quickly as Elian was suffering from the "chaotic" conditions in and around his relatives' home in Miami.
Now that Elian is reunited with his father, the US Government is arguing that an appeals court should reject the petition by the Miami relatives for Elian to be granted a hearing for political asylum. One of the petitions is signed by Elian in childish letters.
The government is arguing that as Elian's father is not seeking asylum for Elian, the petitions should be dismissed.
The petitions were rejected by a federal district court last March on the grounds that the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) had the power not to treat Elian's case as one of asylum and to return him to Cuba to his father.
That ruling is now before the 11th US Appeals Court in Atlanta, which will hold oral hearings in mid-May.