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Media Advisory

In several news reports earlier today several individuals asserted that the United States law enforcement agents that entered the home of Lazaro Gonzalez did so without a warrant. These statements were incorrect.

The federal agents who went to the house were executing a judicial warrant. The warrant had been obtained from a federal magistrate judge on Friday evening, and gave authority to enter the house, by force if necessary, and recover Elian. The authority to recover Elian was based on rule 41(b)(4) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. That rule provides warrant authority to recover a person who has been unlawfully restrained. A copy of the judicial warrant is attached.

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