Aliens, Employers Express Fears

Antonio, 32, has worked at the same East Los Angeles market for 13 years, and that fact should qualify him for amnesty and legal residential status under the immigration measure given final approval by Congress Friday night.

But the owner of the store where Antonio works as a clerk has advised him against using his payroll check stubs as proof of residency. Why? Because the same bill also includes prison terms and fines for employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens.

Neither man feels comfortable visiting the local U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service office for clarification.

“What happens to me if they find out I’ve been paying him to work here?” asked the owner, who spoke on condition that he not be identified by name. “Will I go to jail?”

Antonio says he’s not willing to subject his boss to potential penalties and will avoid seeking legal status if that’s what’s at stake.

The problem illustrates the fear, confusion and distrust that the sweeping overhaul of immigration laws has unleashed among the hundreds of thousands of people who may be affected by the bill in Southern California, immigration experts said.

For years, these illegal aliens have learned to avoid arrest and deportation by avoiding the INS.

“The bottom line is, there is a lack of confidence in the good will of the United States government to implement this bill,” said Antonia Hernandez, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. “Latinos are justifiably skeptical.”

She said that recent sweeps by INS agents in Spanish-speaking neighborhoods have stirred up fears among illegals who might qualify for amnesty.

Recommends Caution

“The reality is that the INS is a federal law enforcement agency and it is the INS’ duty to enforce the Immigration Act of the United States,” said Ted McCabe, an immigration attorney with Catholic Charities of Santa Ana. “They may in their discretion choose not to arrest . . . but before I would rely on that kind of guarantee I would seek advice from a lawyer or a trained immigration counselor.”

Cecilia, a 29-year-old waitress at a Santa Ana restaurant, already has decided what she will do.

“When it (the immigration bill) passes I will go someplace else than La Migra (the INS) for information,” said Cecilia, a Mexican who entered the country illegally 10 years ago. “If I go there, they will give me a ride to Tijuana!”

Actually, the bill adopted by Congress includes provisions to meet the concerns of people like Antonio’s employer.

Employers will not be penalized for keeping currently employed illegal workers on the payroll but could be punished for new hirings. After an 18-month phase-in period that begins when the bill is signed by President Reagan, employers can be fined or jailed for knowingly hiring illegal aliens.

Some Face Expulsion

Illegals who can prove that they have resided in the Unites States since Jan. 1, 1982, will become eligible for legal residency and eventual citizenship. But those who fail to register for residency within 18 months of the bill becoming law lose that right and would face expulsion.

In addition, illegal aliens seeking legal status will be required to show some minimal understanding of ordinary English and knowledge and understanding of the history of the United States, or show that they are pursuing some course of study to learn those things. This provision, immigration counselors say, will eliminate many Spanish-speaking immigrants who might otherwise qualify.

Not clearly understood, however, is whether illegal aliens who qualify for amnesty under their date of entry would face expulsion by leaving the country, however briefly, or whether they would be eligible for unemployment benefits, immigration counselors said.

William King, the INS official in charge of the region’s legalization program, said he believes the INS will not target for deportation those illegal residents who apply for amnesty but fail to receive legal status.

Denies Deportation Plan

“I don’t foresee any mass effort to deport those people who didn’t qualify,” King said. “It’s just not going to happen.”

Meanwhile, Carmen Delgado, an immigration counselor for the International Institute of Los Angeles, which represents clients of all nationalities in deportation proceedings, said her office has been receiving “20 calls a day from people anxious to know if there is already a new law.

“Some want desperately to be legal here,” Delgado said. “Others are scared because they may not be able to stay, although they have children who want to go to college or a university.”

‘It’s Very Risky’

The reaction of other illegals to the news of Friday’s passage of the landmark legislation was similar to that of Antonio and his boss in East Los Angeles.

Several in a group of unskilled laborers, waiting for an offer of work at an Echo Park street corner, said they, too, would have to think twice before applying for amnesty under the immigration reform bill.

“Amnesty is a good thing if we can get it,” said Manuel Echeverria, 23. “But I’m not sure I want to go to the immigration offices to give them my name. What if something happens? It’s very risky.”

A farmhand from the Mexican state of Sinaloa who declined to give his name put it this way: “Back home, you have to be sure of yourself, I mean really sure, if you go into an enemy’s home. Here, it’s much worse. No way.”