INS Plans Mail-in Service on Illegal Alien Amnesty

By DAVID HOLLEY

March 18, 1987 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

Illegal aliens applying for amnesty under the new immigration law will be able to submit applications by mail after May 5 and can expect to receive temporary work authorization within one or two weeks, officials announced Tuesday.

Harold Ezell, regional commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, said at a Los Angeles press conference that the mail-in procedure was designed to avoid lengthy lines at legalization centers while dealing with “a huge crush of applicants.”

An estimated 1 million illegal aliens may seek amnesty in the seven-county Los Angeles District, and the agency will open 15 special legalization offices to process applications, Ezell said.

Several leading activists offered rare praise Tuesday for the INS plan.

The mail-in plan should enable people eligible for amnesty, who need work authorizations, to receive temporary permits before the government begins to enforce employee sanctions, officials said. Penalties against employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens is the other key provision of the landmark law, officials said.

The mail-in procedure will be used in several large cities across the country.

“The driving force behind this is the need to grant work authorization before employer sanctions kick in June 1,” said William King, regional director of immigration reform.

Employer sanctions do not apply to illegal aliens on the job as of Nov. 6, 1986. But immigrant rights activists have voiced concern that many people who should qualify for amnesty may be disqualified if they lose their jobs and cannot quickly obtain work authorization.

Proposed regulations released by the INS on Monday also offer a way around the problem. Until Sept. 1, illegal aliens applying for jobs may attest under penalty of perjury that they intend to seek amnesty, and the employer would then be protected from sanctions, according to the regulations.

Amnesty applicants must show that they have resided illegally in the United States since before Jan. 1, 1982, or have spent at least 90 days doing agricultural work in this country in the 12-month period that ended May 1, 1986.

A few days before May 5, the INS will announce the address to which applications should be mailed, Ezell said. Illegal aliens may also apply through nonprofit organizations, such as the Roman Catholic Church, that are assisting with amnesty, he said. Applications will be available in a few weeks at voluntary agencies and at the INS office in downtown Los Angeles.

After applications, accompanied by supporting documents and a $185 fee, are received by the INS, the agency will respond with a letter setting an interview date and providing work authorization valid until that time, King said. Offices initially will be open during normal business hours, but evening or weekend times may be established, he said.

Ernest Gustafson, director of the Los Angeles District INS office, said that the agency hoped to handle the first wave of applications quickly enough to get most return letters into the mail in about a week, with interview appointments scheduled within about five weeks.

At the interview, a work authorization card valid for six months will be provided to applicants who appear to qualify, King said.

“If the level of documentation is not sufficient to establish prima facie eligibility, they will be told what is necessary to bring their case up to par,” King added.

Clearly ineligible applications will be returned, along with the fee and an explanation, officials said.

Officials indicated that despite the mail-in program, they still foresee most applicants applying through voluntary agencies that will then pass on the completed applications to the INS. Catholic Charities, which is gearing up for a massive legalization effort in Los Angeles, and other voluntary agencies have already begun registering applicants.

The INS recently polled about 10 voluntary agencies in Los Angeles and Orange counties and found that they expect to have the names of “somewhere around 550,000” applicants by May 5, King said.

Gustafson said that the agency is hiring 336 new employees to staff the 15 legalization centers and that their first task will be to process the initial wave of applications and set up interviews.

Program Praised

Peter Schey, executive director of the National Center for Immigrants’ Rights Inc., which has engaged the INS in court battles over work authorization procedures and other rules, praised the mail-in program as “an excellent idea.”

“I think it will save the agency and hundreds of thousands of potentially eligible people all kinds of administrative headaches,” Schey said. “And I think the self-attestation concept (for work authorization) is likewise a welcome approach.”

Schey said he is proposing to the INS that if the self-attestation procedure for work authorization is put into effect immediately, “we would then withdraw our motion (in U.S. District Court in Sacramento) for a nationwide preliminary injunction which would require INS to issue work authorization to legalization applicants immediately.”

Maria Alvarez, hot line coordinator for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which has also been sharply critical of the INS, also praised the plan--with qualifications.

“In theory this is very nice,” she said. “It seems to be very helpful both to the employers who want to utilize these people in their business and for the applicant. . . . But in practice, let’s say you have conservatively 2 million people in California who want to apply. Everyone’s going to want to apply at once. They’re going to be inundated with mail.”

Alvarez also commented that the mail-in program “kind of leaves the applicants on their own as far as filling out the forms.”

King said that the INS “will have contact representatives on duty all the time to be available to respond to questions” but that these employees will not be able to counsel people on filling out the forms.

LEGALIZATION OFFICESThe INS will open legalization offices May 5 at the following locations. Applicants will be scheduled for interviews at the office nearest their homes. Applications, which also will be available from voluntary agencies and church organizations, may be picked up at these offices after May 5.

East Los Angeles, 1241 S. Soto St.

Wilshire-Hollywood, 1671 Wilshire Blvd.

North Hollywood, 11307 Vanowen St.

Sepulveda, 16921 Parthenia St.

Huntington Park, 6022 Santa Fe Ave.

Bellflower, 9858 Artesia Blvd.

Gardena, 555 Redondo Beach Blvd.

El Monte, 9660 Flair Drive

Pomona, 960 E. Holt Blvd.

Buena Park, 7342 Orangethorpe Ave.

Santa Ana, 1901 S. Ritchey St.

Garden Grove, 12912 Brookhurst St.