INS Cites Fraud in Farm Worker Program

Federal officials are becoming increasingly worried about “very high rates of fraud” in applications for legal status under the immigration law’s special farm worker program, a high-ranking immigration official disclosed Wednesday.

In Florida alone, fraud runs “in excess of 50%” among that state’s 42,000 applications, said Mark W. Everson, deputy commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

And in California, where 78,000 immigrants have applied for legalization as farm workers, there are “increasing concerns” about fraud, particularly at the Calexico processing center, Everson said at a briefing.

On the other hand, he said, the INS is “very comfortable” with the lower levels of fraudulent applications in the bulk of the legalization program, which covers all aliens who have been in this country since before 1982. Under the farm worker or “special agricultural worker” provisions, an illegal alien must prove that he worked for 90 days in perishable crops during the year ending May 1, 1986, to be granted permanent residency.

Calls Problem ‘Overstated’

Claudia Smith, regional counsel for the Migrant Farmworker Project in Oceanside, expressed surprise at Everson’s comments on fraud, saying the problem was “vastly overstated.” She blamed failures to qualify on “recalcitrant farmers” who want to keep cheap labor and thus refuse to provide documents to workers proving they qualify.

Everson’s remarks were made at the midpoint of the one-year alien amnesty program. In the most detailed analysis of the 935,000 applicants who have applied for legalization, the INS said about half are married, 62% are between 21 and 40 years old, and almost 70% come from Mexico.

As expected, California accounts for the majority of applications--516,000, or 55%, as of Oct. 31. However, INS officials expressed disappointment in the low numbers of applicants in the industrial cities of the Midwest and Northeast, including New York, Boston and Chicago.

Everson said the INS plans to pump “several million dollars” into those areas in efforts to attract more applicants from groups including Irish, Poles and Chinese.

He said border crossings in October were down 51%, compared to the same month last year, adding that the new law is deterring illegal immigration. The landmark legislation was signed into law by President Reagan Nov. 6, 1986.

Sounds a Bleak Note

Despite his generally upbeat assessment of the legalization program, which began May 5 and continues for a year, Everson sounded a bleak note in his disclosure of fraud in the farm worker applications.

Of the 935,000 legalization applicants, 758,000 applied under the main program and 177,000 were aliens trying to qualify under the special agricultural worker provisions, which went into effect June 1. Everson said 2,300 aliens have been denied residency under both programs for various reasons, including medical problems and failure to meet the residency requirement.

But outright fraud, such as phony pay documents, has been found in a disturbing number of cases, most of which are still pending final action, he said. And he drew a distinction between the main program and the special agricultural worker program.

“We’re very satisfied with the quality of the applications that are coming through” overall, Everson said, “but we’re increasingly concerned about the higher incidence of fraud” in the agricultural workers program.

19 Identical Documents

INS officials said 19 aliens in Texas already have been indicted for filing fraudulent documents in a scheme in which all the aliens presented identical documents.

Everson cited other extreme examples of fraud, including one man who “claimed he picked strawberries by getting up on a step ladder.”

He said the fraud cases in Florida mostly involved Haitians. “The problems are very significant there,” he said, adding that a team of investigators will inform INS in Washington “of any trends.” He said the Florida investigation, which will lead to prosecutions, likely will deter aliens elsewhere from trying to defraud.

In California, he said, local INS officials are “monitoring carefully, and are under instructions to deny on the scene any clearly fraudulent applications.” But in cases where investigators are unsure, applicants will be given work authorizations, Everson said.

He said the high fraud rate in the farm worker program is not surprising because it is so easy to qualify under the 90-day work rule, as opposed to having to show residency since before 1982 under the main program.

In Immokalee, Fla., Rob Williams, an attorney for Florida Legal Services, acknowledged that many Haitians try to get legal status with fraudulent documents provided by “rip-off agencies.” They “felt pressured by employers, and a lot of people took the short cut,” he said.

Williams said that now-innocent farm workers fall under suspicion when they go to INS seeking legal status.