Immigration Law--Now the Work Begins

Latino activists put so much time and effort into trying to defeat the sweeping immigration reform bill recently enacted by Congress that I hope they have some energy left to expend once it becomes law, because that’s when the real work will start.

Of all the legislation passed by the 99th Congress, only the new tax bill may be more complicated than the Immigration Reform Act of 1986. There are plenty of accountants and other specialists around to help us understand what the new tax laws mean. That is not the case with the new immigration law, which could have as profound an effect on millions of people, not just many illegal immigrants, but the employers who hire them, from factories and farms with hundreds of undocumented workers to households with a single maid.

The new law aims to stem the flow of illegal immigrants to this country by penalizing employers who hire them. Its restrictionist proponents accept the theory that jobs draw immigrants here, and if there are fewer jobs available there will be fewer immigrants. The law balances these employer sanctions with an “amnesty” for illegal immigrants who have been here long enough to establish ties. Those who have been in the United States since at least Jan. 1, 1982, will be eligible to legalize their status, and eventually to become citizens. Both of these key provisions of the bill will take effect 18 months after President Reagan signs it into law, as he has said he will.

The 1986 immigration bill was a delicate, difficult compromise between restrictionists who want to limit immigration and free-market advocates who believe that no law can control such a basic human impulse as the desire to improve one’s lot in life. These clashing views are balanced in some complex ways, most notably in a compromise that allows Western farmers to keep their largely illegal work force intact for at least three years. It does so by giving foreign farm workers a separate amnesty program, with different dates and residency requirements than urban workers.

Clearly this special treatment for farm workers reflects the political clout that agribusiness has in states like California. Latino activists can either criticize the transparent hypocrisy of this provision, and other sections of the new law, or they can help as many undocumented workers as possible legalize themselves under it. I would opt for the latter course.

That is why I am encouraged by Archbishop Roger Mahony’s announcement this week, that Los Angeles’ Roman Catholic archdiocese will set up 20 centers to help illegal immigrants apply for amnesty under the new law.

While expressing concern over the potentially discriminatory effects of the immigration bill on the employment of Latinos and other ethnic minorities, Mahony also expressed hope that the amnesty will allow a large “shadow society” of people, heretofore fearful and prone to exploitation, to come out of hiding and fully participate in American life.

That is a worthwhile and important goal that all Latino Americans should be willing to work for if they really care about their community. Because if Latino citizens don’t help their illegal brothers try to comprehend the new law and work their way through the legal maze it creates, far less altruistic and sympathetic people will try.

Most states do less to regulate immigration consultants than barbers, so there has never been a shortage of fly-by-night operators who try to make a quick buck by charging poorly educated immigrants large sums of money to do little more than file paper work on their behalf. Often they have done so knowing full well that there was little hope of legalizing their clients’ status. Under the new law there will be more hope, but also more opportunities for shysters to profit from immigrants’ ignorance and fear.

Then there’s the good old Immigration and Naturalization Service. La migra, as it is not-so-fondly referred to by Latinos, is supposed to administer this complex new immigration law.

Quite apart from the image it has of being insensitive, and even hostile, to Latinos, INS is the most inefficient and mismanaged bureaucracy in the federal government. (Just ask almost any citizen who has ever had direct dealings with INS on behalf of a friend or relative.) In recent years INS has gotten political mileage out of the fact that its agents can’t begin to catch all the millions of people who are in this country illegally. So what makes anyone think they can now turn around and efficiently--much less humanely--handle the process of making millions of the same people “legal”?

I have my doubts, and I’m not alone. That’s why we should now keep a sharp eye on INS to make sure that it does this important new job well--and raise hell if it doesn’t. After 10 years of fighting immigration reform, political hell-raising is one thing that Latino activist groups have shown they can do quite well.