Amnesty Turnout Across Nation Is More a Trickle Than a Flood

The huge national network formed to grant legal status to millions of illegal immigrants eased into operation Tuesday, with the flow of applicants at most sites more a trickle than a flood.

Several private groups that are assisting the Immigration and Naturalization Service in processing immigrants attributed the low turnout to aliens’ fears of arrest and of having their families broken up if some members fail to qualify for legal status.

But an INS spokesman in Washington called the first-day turnout “intentionally light,” saying immigrant counseling agencies were encouraged to allow the INS staff to gain expertise.

Both INS and the private groups predicted the numbers will rise as the one-year period of legalization goes on. “When they find out INS is sincere, they’ll go in,” said Elise Cerniglia of Associated Catholic Charities in New Orleans, one of about 300 private groups helping in the legalization effort.

The INS said all of its 107 special legalization offices around the country were in full operation Tuesday as the application period opened for most aliens covered by the new immigration reform law. Officials have estimated that 4 million aliens may be eligible for legal residency.

In the Manhattan office, which can handle up to 500 people daily, staff members were processing about 100 applications.

“We firmly believe that it will build by word of mouth,” said Charlie Troy, spokesman for the INS northeast region, adding that many aliens apparently were waiting to make sure that the first wave was “not going to be instantly deported.”

About 200 applicants lined up outside the shiny new INS facility in Houston, entering in groups of 50 to receive forms, which most took home with them to fill out.

In Dallas, one INS official described the turnout as “not overwhelming. It’s been pretty slow.”

In many cases, those who showed up at the centers were bewildered about whether they would qualify for legalization, which is being offered to most illegal aliens who have been in the country continuously since Jan. 1, 1982.

“I’m kind of confused,” said Rich Morozik, 26, a Polish immigrant who was among 364 applicants who came to a Chicago center. “I don’t know if I qualify because I was here on a student visa” legally during part of the eligibility period.

However, some were fully prepared to make their bid on the program’s opening day.

“I’m sure I’m eligible,” said Juan Sanchez, a 34-year-old Chicago pizza deliveryman. He has been compiling his employment and utility bills to prove he had been in the country for the required period, and said his family members will get their medical examinations and apply in the next week or so.

At one of Chicago’s four INS legalization centers, two dozen demonstrators protested INS’s failure to put a facility in a Latino neighborhood. That, said Teresa Fraga, president of the United Neighborhood Organization, shows that “Hispanics are being excluded” from the legalization effort.

In Florida, Perry Rivkind, director of the INS regional headquarters in Miami, estimated that the first day’s count for the state would fall far short of the predicted 10,000. “After all,” he said, “they have a whole year.”

While the turnout at the INS centers was sparse, more applicants showed up at the offices of private groups that are counseling and screening immigrants.

Critics of the INS continued to charge Tuesday that the agency is still ill-prepared to handle the expected deluge of applicants.

Rep. Esteban Torres (D-La Puente) called the low turnout “a consequence of a poorly executed public awareness program.”

Several organizations, including the U.S. Catholic Conference and the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, reported that many of their counseling offices still do not have basic application forms.

“If you shake the tree long enough, you may get what you want from INS,” said Joseph M. Trevino, executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens. “But how long do you have to shake the tree?”

“The issue is not where we are now,” said Charles Kamasaki of the National Council of La Raza, “but whether we can get the system in order. People should not refuse to come forward, even if they are not able to get processed right away.”

INS spokesman Duke Austin acknowledged that the agency had encountered some problems distributing forms, but he said many are being shipped by overnight mail. Austin said critics should not forget that the legalization program continues for a year--enough time to legalize all those who qualify.

“We have asked the voluntary agencies not to flood us with applicants the first day,” Austin said. “We wanted it to be a little light the first couple of days until we got the offices up and running.”

Times researchers Siobhan Flynn in New York, Wendy Leopold in Chicago, Lorna Nones in Miami and Rhona Schwartz in Houston contributed to this story.