Posted on 11/09/2011 6:39:21 AM PST by 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.''
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!!!
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.
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.
Bush knew what constituted or needed in the ‘new world order’.
Part & parcel of the permanent Democrat hack bureaucracy living large off our tax dollars. Effin pigs at the public trough
“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.
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.
And a free trip to a Penn State game with Jerry Sandusky.
all of these Cain accusers have hair all over ‘em
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.
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.
You are keeping up with the news this morning, aren’t you? Seems she had a history of filing complaints against bosses...
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.
One of the accomplices to Elian’s kidnapping? It’s no wonder she doesn’t like Cain.
This woman is demon possessed !
Karen Kraushaar
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
