Cain Accuser Accounts Role in Federal Seizure/Kidnapping of Elian Gonzales to Cuba (2000)

Cubanet, (Miami) April 2000 ^ | April 2000 | Mimi Whitfield, Miami Herald

[AmericanInTokyo]

Her (INS Agent Mill's) instructions: Locate Elian, get him safely into a waiting van, and stay with him and allay his fears until federal agents reunited him with his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.

After Elian was found in a closet, Mills told him in Spanish: ``I know this seems frightening to you now, but it will all be over very soon,'' said Russ Bergeron, director of media relations for the INS. ``She told him: `We're not going to take you to Cuba. We're not going to put you on a raft. We're taking you to see your papa.' ''

During the flight to Maryland, aboard a U.S. Marshals Service plane, Mills, 33, repeated that message, which psychological experts consulted by the INS said would ``help overcome [Elian's] anxiety and assuage any fears,'' Bergeron said.

Once they were aboard the plane, he never left Mills' lap, INS officials said. It was his first airplane trip. ``Elian is very interactive with his adult caregiver. He was calm on the flight and he bonded with her immediately,'' said Karen Kraushaar, an INS spokeswoman who spoke with Mills after the plane landed at the base.

'APPROPRIATE PERSON'

Mills, an eight-year veteran of the INS, had been specifically chosen for the role because experts advised the INS that a Spanish-speaking, female agent would be the least intimidating for the delicate role of extracting Elian from the Miami home.

``We determined very early on that she would be the appropriate person for this operation. She had all the pieces we were looking for,'' Kraushaar said. ``As a law enforcement officer she was wedded to a very scary situation and she performed admirably.'

Mills, who is based in Miami, has a broad range of INS experience, is a veteran of tactical operations, and is fluent in Spanish. Her mother is Puerto Rican and her father was born in Virginia. Mills grew up in Pennsylvania, speaking both English and Spanish.

After a stint in the army where she was a member of the military police, Mills joined the INS as a border patrol agent in El Paso. Her next assignments were as an immigration agent in Phoenix and as an INS inspector in Pittsburgh.

RELIEVING STRESS

During the operation, Mills and another agent were specifically assigned to Elian. The second agent was a backup for Mills. Once the child was in the van, a key part of Mills' role was to put him at ease.

For the flight, the INS prepared food and a package of toys for Elian that agents had been told would help relieve stress and anxiety. They included a Pokemon game, crayons, an airplane and Play-Doh.

``The experts told us Play-Doh would be good to use when someone has been in a stressful situation, because you can squeeze it and it helps work out anxiety,'' Bergeron said.

Elian and Mills colored and played Pokemon together on the flight; he changed his clothes and he talked with his father on the phone. He was excited to be on an airplane and wasn't very interested in either food or drinks, according to Kraushaar.

Mills' mission was completed, said Bergeron, when she turned the boy over to his father at the Air Force base.

``Right now she's just trying to get some rest,'' Kraushaar said Saturday evening. ``She and the other agents were on call for 72 hours.''

[AmericanInTokyo]

My isn't that special, isn't it? For the Chillllldren, but of course. Former INS spokesman, (and Cain accuser) Karen Kraushaar, who had a role in this whole sordid 2000 affair of forceably returning a boy to Communist Cuba working in tandem with an INS/Federal Marshal swat team that went in with weapons loaded and cocked, into the face of the screaming boy, and returned him to Cuba where he has now become a "nice communist". Can this moral woman sleep at night? She certainly secured the freedom for one young man under Janet Reno, Maria Cardoza and Bill Clinton. I guess like the Nazis, we can say "just following orders."

[LOC1]

The best thing that could happen in tonight’s debate is for each of the other candidates to refuse to discuss these allegations of harassment. We collectively should shift the national conversation to the things that really matter.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Ping.

[Realman30]

I think she ought to stay in the closet!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Well, this should earn her points from all the rabid send him home to his father FR posters.

[cripplecreek]

Sounds like another unelected permanent government operative to me.

[gussiefinknottle]

the best thing is that they read aloud liberal
reporters coverage and nyts and wash posts
editorials on bill clinton scandals. then, for good
measure, they could throw out clinton’s fbi files
info, the private eyes hired to harass women,
and the vicious attacks by carville, stephanopolis,
begala, etc. on these women. talk about how
dems were always quoting european press on how
ridiculous this was. and, they should quote women
about current administrations hostile workplace atmosphere.

[Thane_Banquo]

Translation: This woman is a demonically evil grade-A super galactic beyotch.

[muawiyah]

So this Fascist POS complained about someone else making a hand motion that made her "UNCOMFORTABLE"?

If that was all we knew about we'd know this woman to be a very dangerous sociopathic personality type.

And she's still at ICE?

This is what happens when Republicans get into office and then don't go back and EXCISE the bureaucrats who facilitated some of the more outrageous excesses of the prior regime.

Bush should have fired this woman and her friends.

[TexMom7]

Boom Boom POW!

Wow you hit the nail on the head.

[AmericanInTokyo]

The sadness in Elian’s eyes, in his Cuban Communist paramilitary uniform, tells the whole story, but Fidel has seen to his development into a nice Communist. Wait till that place falls, and the true story that young man will be able to say. Many Americans are going to be ashamed of themselves, even some conservatives.

[cripplecreek]

I think the American refugees and immigrants from Cuba need to be reminded of this. It might help them make up their minds about Cain and his accusers.

[onemiddleamerican]

Translation: This woman is a demonically evil grade-A super galactic beyotch.

Only thing I can think to add is... without children of her own; which makes her an absolute expert in what's best for children. Not.

[RightGeek]

Should have sent her to Cuba instead

[TribalPrincess2U]

Bush should have fired this woman and her friends.

Bush should have fired a lot of DEMS. He trusted too much.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Yes, Spanish language Cain TV ads for South Florida for the Republican Primary there can be ginned up...if by then they have NOT BACKED OFF HERMAN CAIN with these groundless smears and character assassination attempts. A whole ball of fire can be turned right back around upon these idiots and soul-less tyrants who sent a poor young boy, falling in love with America, back to a holy hell of a prison on that Island.

[Never on my watch]

I learned from my father “NEVER give Communists a victory”

A child in the care of his family was seized by US government armed officers at the implicit direction of Fidel Castro. Part of our freedom died that day.

[muawiyah]

Bush, as a rule, didn't go after people covered by the Civil Service laws. Fur shur all the appointed positions were dealt with simply because there were Republicans who wanted those jobs.

Still, it can be done ~ some of the protected federales can be identified and their lives made miserable. We used to call the places they get sent as Turkey Farms. Bunch of Democrats even once tried to send me to Dawson but I held out for Fairbanks and they gave up. They'd decided to punish another guy by sending him to Fairbanks. In the end he got a job in Anchorage and eventually bounced back once the Republicans came into power.

There's no reason this INS gal should still be an employee of the US government. She would have quite easily been put out on disability for life. It's not too late either. No federal employee should ever get involved in TWO MAJOR SCANDALS without some serious punishment.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I think the American refugees and immigrants from Cuba need to be reminded of this. It might help them make up their minds about Cain and his accusers.

They already know Cain's electric fence to kill joke plan.

[PaleoBob]

Bush, as a rule, didn’t go after people covered by the Civil Service laws. Fur shur all the appointed positions were dealt with simply because there were Republicans who wanted those jobs.

---

She “worked for Bush” according to FR reckoning. Doesn’t seem to matter to anyone though. “Woman bad, Cain good.” And now let’s all go back to sleep and re=charge our batteries for doing more smears of more “accusers” sure to come because Saint Herman said they will — and he would know (for some reason).

“Karen Kraushaar, 55, filed the complaint while working as a spokeswoman at the Immigration and Naturalization Service in the Justice Department in late 2002 or early 2003, with the assistance of her lawyer, Joel Bennett...”

[JLAGRAYFOX]

Any objective, fair person that does not come to the conclusion that the Herman Cain attacks do not come directly from POTUS Obama and his destroy America ilk is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. These women, all of them, make me sick to my stomach!!! I remember the “Elian” incident from top to bottom!!! It was a shameful display of the destruction of freedom!!! Elian’s mom, gave her life to give Elian freedom & opportunity, and....this evil motivated woman was part & parcel of denying Elian the chance to remain free and be all that he could be!!! America, wake-up!!! These women are naught but female “dirt bags” from A-Z!!! Go Herman Cain!!!

[cripplecreek]

They already know Cain's electric fence to kill joke plan.

They also know they aren't sneaking across the mexican border and More importantly they know the difference between Cuban and Mexican. They may all look the same to La Rico but they actually know the difference.

[Travis McGee]

[bigdirty]

What a disgusting situation to feed a little boy to a communist dictator to use as a little puppet. This woman is disgusting and evil. I hope Mr. Cain annihilates her in the media and she gets what she deserves.

[freeandfreezing]

Isn't it funny that a woman who could participate in the kidnapping of a child at gunpoint, and his condemnation to a life under tyranny, would complain at the least perceived slight to her by her employers, and demand money. First at the National Restaurant Association, and then at the INS.

AP has reported that at the INS Kraushaar wanted to get paid damages because she couldn't work from home like some other employees. I wonder is she ever thought about whether Elian Gonzales even had the chance to pick his job or employer, let alone complain about them.

If she was alive and working in 1943 she probably would have filed a complaint that she broke a fingernail pushing the start button on the gas chamber.

[noinfringers2]

Bush knew what constituted or needed in the ‘new world order’.

[dennisw]

Sounds like another unelected permanent government operative to me.

Part & parcel of the permanent Democrat hack bureaucracy living large off our tax dollars. Effin pigs at the public trough

[Arthur McGowan]

“Move On.” Where have I heard that before?

“Move on” is what guilty people say. The attempt to destroy Herman Cain is not something Cain needs to be ashamed of. It’s a badge of honor. And it IS a “real” issue that people should care about—because it shows just how far Cain’s enemies—whether Perry, Romney, or Obama—will go to knock him out of the race. If the subject comes up, watch for Cain to give a strong answer, and his Republican enemies (I don’t call them “opponents”) to give mealy-mouthed responses in which they attempt to keep open the “possibility” that Cain is guilty.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Could not have said it better myself.

I say, SCORCHED EARTH.

They say politics ain't bean bag? Well then, expose ALL THE EXPOSERS, everyone of these bimbos and jackboot government spokesholes. Make them suffer, humiliate them publicly in every way for starting this, make them wish the had never EVER opened their mouths with such falsehoods about the Good Herman Cain, and make an glaring example of them for others who might be tempted by the MSM to create a ruckus against a good man for not damned reason except money and fame.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

For the flight, the INS prepared food and a package of toys for Elian that agents had been told would help relieve stress and anxiety. They included a Pokemon game, crayons, an airplane and Play-Doh.

And a free trip to a Penn State game with Jerry Sandusky.

[stickywillie]

all of these Cain accusers have hair all over ‘em

[Cincinatus' Wife]

From your comment, either you didn’t have a good comeback, you don’t know what your talking about or you think you understand something you don’t. You should have just let it pass.

[FourPeas]

I’d say this makes it plainly obvious that Miss Kraushaar has no shame. Character matters. Her role in re-enslaving Elian makes it clear hers is seriously flawed.

[madinmadtown]

It was a holiday and my family was coming home and I was so terribly excited, but I heard the news about Elian and I literally threw up from disgust that our government would force him back to Cuba after his mother gave her life for him to come here. Anyone associated with that dark episode of American history should be ashamed and hang their head in shame forever. By any means necessary is the mantra of the Communists.....I seem to believe this woman lives by this code of ethics and nothing else.

[republicangel]

You are keeping up with the news this morning, aren’t you? Seems she had a history of filing complaints against bosses...

[mkjessup]

If there is any justice at all in this universe, Karen Kraushaar will burn in hell for her role in corrupting and darkening the soul of little Elian Gonzales.

"As you have done it unto the least of these, My brethren, you have done it also unto Me"
~ Jesus Christ, (Who will be judging Karen Kraushaar, and will not be accepting any plea deals.)

[mkjessup]

They already know Cain's electric fence to kill joke plan.

They also know that Rick 'Single Digit' Perry's campaign has turned into a joke, kinda like you.

[muawiyah]

You missed the whole idea. Bush should have fired her in 2001 for her participation in the Elian kidnapping in 2000.

She wouldn't have been around to file her complaint in 2002/3.

Think about this ~ you have an INS geek who is complaining formally about an innocuous "joke" e-mail while the whole agency is sitting there with egg on its face for having allowed 19 Arab terrorists into the country.

This woman IS NOT CONNECTED TO REALITY. That is a fact ~ not a smear.

I still have the odor of a burning Pentagon in my nostrils and my ire is not satisfied. Obama taking this particular person out to run a game against Cain is SICK.

[TBP]

One of the accomplices to Elian’s kidnapping? It’s no wonder she doesn’t like Cain.

[Uri’el-2012]

This woman is demon possessed !

Karen Kraushaar

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

The best thing that could happen in tonight’s debate is for each of the other candidates to refuse to discuss these allegations of harassment. We collectively should shift the national conversation to the things that really matter.

2 posted on November 9, 2011 9:41:22 AM EST by LOC1

Exactly.

“Move On.” Where have I heard that before?

“Move on” is what guilty people say. The attempt to destroy Herman Cain is not something Cain needs to be ashamed of. It’s a badge of honor. And it IS a “real” issue that people should care about—because it shows just how far Cain’s enemies—whether Perry, Romney, or Obama—will go to knock him out of the race.

The fact that Cain is under an Alinsky attack is what is the only legitimate point to be made WRT these attacks.

If the subject comes up, watch for Cain to give a strong answer, and his Republican enemies (I don’t call them “opponents”) to give mealy-mouthed responses in which they attempt to keep open the “possibility” that Cain is guilty.

. . . which is precisely the opposite of what LOC1 urged.

[CriticalJ]

It really is weird the number of strange connections these accusers have to events like this and leftists.

Pure coincidence I am sure.

[LevinFan]

You means those of us who believe that a father has the right to raise his son as he sees best, whether you or I agree with him? That is such and outdated viewpoint after all. Why, that would be a horrible way to raise children.

[sand88]

She truly looks like a sadistic, vindictive b*tch. I ran across a few in my life — they were very evil in the heart and actions.

[allmendream]

Maybe a father wants to sell his son into slavery.

Living under a Communist regime is slavery.

Anyone who would rather have his son live in slavery rather than free is not worthy of the name father.

[LevinFan]

What of the freedom of a father to raise his child as he sees best? How would you like it if your inlaws seized your son illegally because they don’t agree with your values?
Anyone who is willing to steal a a mans son, who’s only offense is to believe in a different government, is themselves an enemy of liberty.
I don’t agree with the father, but my opinion doesn’t matter. Nor does anyone elses.

[aruanan]

What of the freedom of a father to raise his child as he sees best? How would you like it if your inlaws seized your son illegally because they don’t agree with your values?

Well, you're positing a situation that didn't exist (and still didn't because the inlaws didn't seize anyone illegally) until Castro decided to use this for his own purposes. Learn your history and don't bring disrepute to Mark Levin's name. You're running the risk of sounding like a Carl Levin fan.

[LevinFan]

I don’t have to agree with everything mark says. im a fan, not a sycophant.

The family refused to surrender the boy to the father who had primary custody. Or have you given up on the american tradition of parental rights?
Mother was dead, father alive. Case closed, dad has custody. Why should her needs your or my permission?

[Justa]

I love how there’s supposed to be ‘father’s rights’ in a totalitarian society when there aren’t even individual rights.

[allmendream]

Yes, the concept loses all meaning.

It is as if a mom fled slavery with her child, died during the travails of the journey - and when they reached the land of freedom - they insisted on returning the child to his slave father.

And the slave owner can trot out his slave and have him dutifully recite that he wants his son back.

But what they really want is another slave, and to show the slaves that even if they escape, they can still be sent back to slavery.