Few Aliens Applying for Amnesty in S.D.

Few illegal aliens have come out of hiding to apply for amnesty during the first month of the new federal immigration law, Mayor Maureen O’Connor said Friday, “because they fear that their families will be torn apart” by deportation of unqualified immigrants.

O’Connor threw her support behind a coalition of local agencies that are offering low-cost counseling to illegal-alien families, promising confidentiality and protection against deportation.

Fear of the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service has slowed applications for amnesty to a trickle--less than 2,000 of an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 local aliens.

Aid groups also have had few clients because of rumors that INS agents follow aliens visiting the counseling centers in order to raid homes and deport family members who do not qualify for amnesty under the new immigration law, agency spokesmen said.

O’Connor said Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) has introduced a resolution that would bar the INS from deporting family members who do not meet the standards for citizenship, and is actively campaigning among the California congressional delegation to assure that the new law is applied humanely so that families are not separated.

Attorney Carol Hallstrom, coordinator for the San Diego Immigration Law Coalition, said that O’Connor’s support comes “at a critical time” when few aliens were willing to come forward to seek legal status in the United States or were unaware of the services being offered by 17 local groups.

Hallstrom also proposed that the INS reverse its interpretation of the immigration law to allow those seeking special agricultural worker status to apply locally, rather than be forced to travel 1,500 miles to the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey or 2,000 miles to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City--now the nearest application centers for the program.

Establishment of agricultural worker application centers in Tijuana and Mexicali would resolve the problem, Hallstrom said. The new law requires those who were out of the country on May 1 or those who left after that date to apply for amnesty outside the United States.

Among the local groups assisting in the amnesty effort are: Access, the American Civil Liberties Union, American Friends Service Committee, Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, Catholic Community Services, Chicano Federation, San Diego Law Center, San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program and University of San Diego School of Law.