Archbishop, Officials at ‘Legalization Fair’ : INS, Church Join to Get Out the Word on Amnesty to Illegal Aliens

Francisco Xavier Sandoval, a Baldwin Park mechanic, told an immigration official that he was thrown out of a government office when he sought amnesty.

Ernest Gustafson, Los Angeles district director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, promised Sandoval in Spanish that he would look into the case personally.

A man named Patricio feared his application for amnesty would be stymied when he received papers spelling his name Patricia. Gustafson joked with the man, then changed the spelling on the official document with a ballpoint pen. “Watch this,” he yelled to the crowd. “It’s a miracle!”

Gustafson, Roman Catholic Archbishop Roger M. Mahony, INS Western Regional Commissioner Harold Ezell and Spanish-language radio disc jockey Luis Roberto (El Tigre) Gonzales had come to Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in East Los Angeles Saturday to urge community residents to apply for legalization. They also answered questions posed to them via a live radio broadcast on KTNQ-AM.

Officials estimated that 1,000 people showed up for what was billed as the first “Legalization and Immigration Fair.” Although the Catholic Church and the INS have been at odds on many aspects of the 1986 immigration law, Mahony and Ezell referred to Saturday’s effort as “a joint venture.”

“We have to pull together to make it work,” the archbishop said.

Colorfully dressed clowns and people in costumes of their native lands milled about as children played with pinatas and listened to the music of a mariachi band. Tamales and fresh tropical fruit were on sale alongside booths that offered stacks of printed information about the immigration law. Nearby, a video explained in Spanish the steps required to file for amnesty.

“This is a very significant day,” Gustafson said. “These are the kinds of things that I think will show the people amnesty is for real, that it’s not a sting.”

He said the appearance of El Tigre helped to make members of the Latino community feel more comfortable that the INS was actually there to help them. “I think the fear factor is basically eliminated,” he said.

Agency Under Fire

The event is part of the INS’ effort to reach out to the community before the May 4 deadline for amnesty applications. The agency has recently come under fire for failing to inform undocumented workers about the yearlong amnesty program and for poor management. Officials said they waited until now to stage such community events because of the drop in the number of amnesty applications filed since October. Similar events will be planned at parishes and community centers throughout Southern California over the next three months.

Next Saturday, the INS’ East Los Angeles center will open its doors from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to give appointments to those who received applications at the fair.

Since the program began last May, more than 470,000 Southern Californians have applied for amnesty, but officials hope for 1 million by the end of the program, Gustafson said.

At one point, Ezell requested a song from the seven-piece mariachi band, and while it played donned a gilded velvet sombrero he had brought with him.

“I love the people here; that’s what offends me when people accuse me of being a racist,” Ezell said. “There’s no way you can be around people of any ethnic group and not like ‘em.”

Tell Their Stories

Most of the people who posed questions to Ezell and Gustafson asked for clarification of the application process. Almost all told their individual stories.

When 50-year-old Juan Torres told Ezell that he had been charged $2,300 by immigration consultants who did nothing for him, Ezell replied, “That really ticks me off,” and encouraged the man to file his own application.

“They listen to us and help us to go forward,” Torres said. “Here they explain a lot to you. They’re helping a lot of people.”

Not Everyone Agrees

But not everyone at the fair agreed that they had been helped.

“I wanted to come personally and talk to them and see what they could do for me, but I don’t know how they’re helping people,” said Rafael Lopez, a factory worker who came to this country after the Jan. 1, 1982, cutoff for amnesty and thus has scant chance of qualifying.

“The law isn’t flexible, and people are scared because they don’t know what to do,” said Lopez, the father of four.

Gustafson told him his only hope is a letter from his employer asking that he be granted legal residence. “We can’t resolve each problem,” he said.