Critics Cite Numerous Problems : INS Confident It’s Ready for Legalization Program

With less than two weeks remaining before a massive legalization program starts under the new immigration law, government officials declared Thursday that they are ready, but immigrant interest groups and members of Congress cited numerous problems and unresolved issues that they said could severely hamper the effort.

At a news briefing, Immigration and Naturalization Service officials said that 250 national, community and other organizations are opening 500 offices nationwide to advise illegal immigrants seeking legal resident status in the United States. The INS has opened another 107 offices to handle the applications from the private groups, the officials said.

By the end of next week, final regulations to implement the law will be issued, the INS said, and a telephone hot line will soon go into operation to answer questions about how to apply and who is eligible.

Pleased With Progress

The massive government machinery “is designed to process 4 million applicants without any strain on the system,” said Richard E. Norton, associate commissioner for examinations. Later, he added: “We are very pleased with what we have done in six months and we think we can pull it off.”

However, a broad range of critics predicted that when May 5 arrives, opening the application process for aliens seeking legal status, the scene will be chaos.

The INS “has offered an overly optimistic assessment of its capacity and of the legalization program,” said Wade J. Henderson, associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union. “Right now confusion is the watchword.”

Callers Seek Information

Rep. Esteban E. Torres (D-La Puente) said his office has been “inundated” by telephone calls from people who want information on legalization. “I assess it as a case of organized chaos,” he said.

Among the problems cited:

--The application forms are printed in English only, meaning that many applicants “will not be able to file on their own without a translator,” said Linda Wong of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. An INS spokesman said that translating the forms into other languages “could unintentionally change the meaning” of the complicated legal provisions.

--The list of private organizations that will help people apply for legal status is unreliable. Among the 500 groups listed by INS, many have not opened for business and some may never do so. In Los Angeles, Kathleen G. Howe of Lutheran Social Services of Southern California, said that her organization is listed but does not have the money to start up until at least June. With calls already deluging the agency, she said, “It’s a nightmare.”

--Uncertainty remains over whether families will be broken up if some family members qualify for legal status and others do not. Rep. Peter W. Rodino Jr. (D-N.J.), a prime architect of the immigration legislation, has urged the INS to “exercise its discretion” by letting non-qualifying family members remain in the country while waiting for immigrant visas. But Thursday, he said that the issue “is still up in the air.”

AIDS Test Questioned

--There are questions about whether AIDS tests will be added to the application requirements. At the INS briefing, Mark Everson, executive associate commissioner, said the agency is not requiring AIDS tests “at this time.” But he said the Public Health Service, not INS, will determine later on whether such tests will be required.

--Lateness in publishing the regulations. Because notices will not arrive until just before May 5, many voluntary agencies and lawyers are complaining that they will not have enough time “to properly prepare for the legalization program,” said Peter A. Schey, executive director of the National Center for Immigrants’ Rights Inc.

Considering such problems, beginning May 5, “there is a very good possibility that the legalization program will collapse of its own weight,” said Wong of MALDEF.

With misinformation, incomplete information and rumors abounding, “the calls are telling us the fear and confusion are reaching crisis proportions,” she said. “People are really desperate. They don’t know what to do, where to go for applications.”

INS officials painted another picture. They unleashed a blitz of statistics--the acquisition of $18 million worth of office furniture and 600 personal computers--in maintaining that the agency will be able to handle all applicants.

Sees Thorough Documentation

Norton disputed complaints that aliens will have difficulty finding enough documents to prove that they have been in the United States long enough to qualify for legal status. He said several private groups helping immigrants apply for legal status “indicated that the documentation is quite thorough.”

However, INS officials still have not specified exactly which documents will be acceptable, preferring to call the list of possibilities “advisory” and saying that they will consider everything from utility bills to rent receipts.

Under the law, anyone who has lived in the country continuously, except for brief absences, since before Jan. 1, 1982, can apply for legal status. Farm workers who were employed at least 90 days during the year ending last May also are eligible.

INS expects 3 million applications, but other officials have predicted that there will be many more.

Employer Requirements

Coupled with the amnesty program, the legislation, signed into law Nov. 6, calls for sanctions against employers who knowingly hire illegal workers. Starting June 1, all new employees, including U.S. citizens, must prove their legal status by providing employers documents such as a passport, naturalization certificate or a combination of other papers such as a driver’s license or Social Security card. And the employers must verify that the forms were submitted, filling out an Employment Verification Form, or Form I-9.

Raymond Kisor, associate commissioner for enforcement, said that the INS will mail I-9 forms to employers before June 1, along with instruction books on the program.

During the briefing, INS officials showed television ads they are sponsoring that tell employers and people seeking legal status “don’t listen to rumors” and urge employers not to fire people just because they look or sound foreign.

Also on display were samples of the green-striped temporary residency card that will be issued and the red-striped employment authorization card.