Mahony Opposes Amnesty Separations

Contending that no less than 30% of the applicants for amnesty “face the grim prospect” of separating from their families under the new immigration reform law, Roman Catholic Archbishop Roger Mahony urged immigration officials to adopt a “humanitarian approach” in dealing with the issue.

At a press conference with Immigration and Naturalization Service Western Region Commissioner Harold Ezell, the Los Angeles Archdiocese leader called on Ezell to defer deportation of immediate family members who do not qualify for amnesty or to grant them extended voluntary departure, a special status that would allow them to remain in the country.

“The unification of family members continues to be of major concern to us and is a main priority for us,” said Mahony, who with other church leaders and immigrants’ advocates has been lobbying INS officials in recent weeks to address the issue and prevent the separation of families.

In a related event earlier in the day, about 100 priests and nuns gathered at Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church in downtown Los Angeles to announce a crusade to carry out the archbishop’s call to help families and immigrants who appear not to qualify for amnesty.

It is time to “close the gap between what the church says and what it sometimes does not do,” said the Rev. Luis Olivares, pastor at Queen of Angels.

More than 500 clergy members signed a pledge to “take strong, concerted action” to extend the privileges of the law to all immigrants and refugees now residing in the United States, not just those who arrived after the 1982 cutoff date. The law requires that immigrants, to be eligible for amnesty, prove that they have lived continuously in the country since Jan. 1, 1982.

Mahony pointed out that the archdiocese’s Catholic Charities, the single largest private agency in the region authorized by the INS to assist immigrants in filing amnesty applications, has already registered 316,000 potential applicants. He added that 6,000 of them have been interviewed since May 5 and that about one-third of those have close family members who appear not to qualify.

Ezell, who noted that INS Commissioner Alan Nelson was scheduled to discuss the family unity issue today in a national conference call with his four regional commissioners, said that he would recommend “some flexibility” in allowing family members who arrived in the country within a certain period of time to remain. He added that he expected Nelson to make a decision on the issue within a few days.

Ezell said that the agency has only limited administrative discretion and that the issue should be addressed by Congress.

Times staff writer Craig Quintana contributed to this story.