Reno authorized the federal raid that removed Cuban boy Elián González from his Miami relatives' home to reunite him with his father.
On April 22, 2000, Attorney General Janet Reno authorized a pre-dawn federal raid in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood to seize six-year-old Cuban boy Elián González from the home of his Miami relatives, enforcing a custody ruling that determined the boy should be reunited with his father in Cuba.
The case had become an intensely emotional and politically charged international custody dispute after Elián was found floating at sea following a boat wreck that killed his mother during an attempted crossing from Cuba to the United States. Miami's Cuban-American community fiercely opposed his return to Cuba, while his father and the Cuban government demanded it.
Reno, a Miami native intimately familiar with the city's Cuban-American community and its politics, made the difficult decision to authorize the armed federal raid after negotiations for a voluntary transfer failed. The operation, carried out by armed federal agents, became one of the most controversial moments of her tenure, drawing both fierce criticism from Cuban-American leaders and praise from those who argued the rule of law and parental rights had been properly upheld.
The case highlighted Reno's willingness to make difficult, politically costly decisions she believed were legally and morally correct, even when they conflicted with the sentiments of her own hometown community, reinforcing her reputation for principled, independent decision-making throughout her career.