‘Part of America’ : 2 Families Are First to Gain Legal Status Under Amnesty

Two immigrant families in Los Angeles--one from Thailand, the other from El Salvador--on Friday became the first in the United States to gain legal status through the landmark U.S. immigration law’s amnesty program for illegal aliens.

Describing Los Angeles as the “Ellis Island of today,” Harold Ezell, commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s Western region, said that it was fitting that the two families “from opposite ends of the world” became the first in the country to obtain amnesty under the new law.

The families received their temporary resident cards, allowing them to work in the United States and travel in and out of the country, at a press conference held “to show the world that this amnesty program really works,” Ezell said.

“I think it’s terrific,” beamed U.S.-born Chris Usanaluxmee, 8, flanked by his immigrant parents, Utai and Churee. The Thai couple, who came to the United States on student visas and were married here, said that the greatest advantage to gaining legal status is that they will be able--for the first time in 13 years--to return to Thailand to visit their families.

The boy waved a small American flag presented to the family by Ezell, who proclaimed, “Now you are part of America,” to the scattered applause of other immigrants waiting their turn to process applications at the Wilshire Boulevard INS legalization office. So far more than 80,000 illegal aliens have filed for amnesty in the INS Los Angeles district since the one-year application period began May 5.

For Ana Delmy Osorio, 37, who received her temporary resident card, along with her husband and teen-age son, who have all lived illegally in the United States for more than a decade, the long-awaited moment was tinged with sadness.

“On the one hand I’m very happy, but on the other, I’m sad for so many of my compatriots who will not qualify,” she said, noting that even among her own relatives there are several who “will have to leave.”

Ana Osorio, who does janitorial work, and her husband, a shoemaker, said that the greatest advantage to obtaining amnesty is that they will feel secure enough, for the first time since living in the United States, to make long-term plans. They only recently bought their first home, Osorio’s husband said.

While about 225,000 amnesty applications have been filed by immigrants throughout the country--more than half of them in the INS Western region--the number is still far below what had been anticipated. The law grants legal status to aliens who can show they have lived continuously in the United States since at least Jan. 1, 1982.

Immigrants’ rights advocates contend that community organizations helping immigrants to complete applications before filing them with the INS, and immigrants themselves, are holding back applications out of fear that the papers will be rejected because of what they term some of the law’s overly restrictive and unclear regulations.

In the Los Angeles district, scores of applications are being held back by immigration officials themselves while they wait for clarification from Washington on an issue that some observers contend may affect tens of thousands of aliens throughout the country.

While a strict reading of the law disqualifies aliens who left the country and re-entered with legal visas, thus breaking the required continuous illegal residence requirement, Los Angeles District Director Ernest Gustafson contends that Congress never intended that such aliens be denied amnesty. He has urged his superiors in Washington to clarify the issue in favor of the immigrants.

The issue came to light in the first amnesty case filed in the district May 5.

Jose Lopez and his wife, Candelaria, a young couple from Lincoln Heights, were startled by the glare of television cameras and the media attention that greeted them last May when they walked into the East Los Angeles INS legalization center to apply for amnesty--the first in the district to do so.

Soon, however, as the couple were walked through the process by Ezell and Gustafson, Candelaria’s case hit a snag. She had gone to Mexico to attend her father’s funeral and--at the urging of her husband, who worried about the danger of a woman alone being smuggled across the border--obtained a legal tourist visa to re-enter the United States.

INS Commissioner Alan Nelson told reporters this week that he is studying the issue “but we haven’t tied it down yet.” Gustafson said Friday that he remains “very optimistic.”

So do Jose and Candelaria Lopez. They have not heard from the INS since they filed their applications, said Jose, who added that he does not mind that although he and his wife were the first to apply for amnesty, they did not share the limelight Friday as the first to be granted legal status.

“As long as we don’t get any bad news, I remain hopeful,” he said.

The temporary resident cards are good for 18 months. Before the end of that period, aliens are required to apply for permanent residence. They must remain in that status for about three years before they can apply for U.S. citizenship.