INS Amnesty Van Will Remain in Northern San Diego County

Immigration officials Tuesday announced that a U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service van will remain parked in Carlsbad to help aliens living in north San Diego County apply for amnesty.

The van will be in the parking lot of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church at Tamarack Avenue and Adams Street, and will be staffed by INS employees from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, and on Saturdays if demand is high.

“We’ve all seen the horrible stories of aliens living in holes in the ground or in tar paper shacks in North County,” INS Western Regional Commissioner Harold Ezell said at a press conference in the church parking lot.

“We want to encourage all those aliens who qualify to come forth because becoming legal is the best way they can start to assert their rights, so they will not have to live like animals in North County and can start to demand to be paid a living wage,” Ezell said.

“The (amnesty) process cuts two ways: It cuts out the true illegals, and it strengthens the hand of those who qualify,” he said.

The van will also be making weekend forays to North County farms where aliens live and work. So far, the van has visited a farm in San Luis Rey and the Ukegawa Brothers farm near Del Mar.

Several dozen aliens working and living at the Ukegawa farm have alleged in court and California Agricultural Labor Relations Board documents that they have been mistreated and underpaid.