Slow Alien Registration Tied to Fear of Splitting Families

Latino congressmen and many immigration activists are renewing charges that the government has failed to address numerous problems that they say are severely hampering the massive 2-month-old program to give legal residency to illegal immigrants.

Chief among the problems is a persistent fear that families will be split if some members qualify for legal status and others do not. Congressmen and activists say this fear--along with stringent documentation requirements, inadequate information and cash flow problems among private agencies assisting the government--is keeping qualified applicants away in huge numbers.

Fear of divided families “is rampant,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-N.Y.) told a news conference Wednesday, adding that government policy “is altogether too vague” on some crucial issues.

A recent telephone survey by the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials of 50 private groups counseling potential applicants found that “many people are complaining that they are worried about family unity,” Harry Pachon, the group’s executive director, said.

Charges of unfairness and inefficiency have dogged the Immigration and Naturalization Service throughout its implementation of the landmark 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act but are now intensifying because of indications that the yearlong legalization program may be falling short of expectations.

Advocates for illegal immigrants have predicted that 3 million people would apply for legal residency and the INS has estimated the number at 2 million.

Duke Austin, spokesman for the INS, said that, as of this week, 282,004 immigrants had applied.

Austin and other INS officials insist that they have made vigorous efforts to inform and aid potential applicants and that their requirements are fair.

“All of those claims have surfaced repeatedly,” Austin said in an interview, and noted that he believed none had merit. “The program is going along very smoothly,” he said.

INS officials argue that the program’s slow start can be blamed in part on how long the private counseling agencies are taking to prepare applications for the aliens.

Of the applications that have been forwarded to the agency, Austin said, “98.5% were recommended for approval.”

However, Gilbert Paul Carrasco of the U.S. Catholic Conference, which has counseled 450,000 potential applicants, complained that the extensive documentation required for showing that an applicant had been in this country since Jan. 1, 1982--the residency deadline for most aliens--has posed “very practical problems that slowed the process” for the “great majority” of immigrants.

Rep. Esteban E. Torres (D-La Puente), chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, complained of “woeful inadequacy of (the INS) in fulfilling the congressional mandate.”

He and other congressional critics contend that the INS has not received enough funds to adequately reimburse the private agencies for their work, hampering their efforts. He said he will try to obtain more money through pending appropriations legislation, and other bills have been introduced in the House and Senate to allow spouses and children of anyone qualifying for legal status to remain in the country.

But advocates for illegal immigrants acknowledge that it would be difficult to gain approval of the legislation in the face of opposition by those who contend the program is already too liberal.

Advocates said they would rather see the INS administratively order that families not be separated. Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) has led a contingent of California lawmakers in an effort to persuade the INS commissioner to act.

INS Commissioner Alan C. Nelson so far has shown no inclination to issue such a policy, saying regional officials will consider family separations on “a case-by-case basis.”

That is not enough, said Linda Wong of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, calling for a national policy backing family reunification. “It’s the No. 1 issue. People want to know where they stand.”