INS Pours It On in the Stretch : The Amnesty Message: Milking It for All That It’s Worth

U.S. immigration officials, who have come under strong criticism for not getting the word out sufficiently about their amnesty program, are adopting a new tactic.

They’ve already attempted to get their message across via tortilla packages, Spanish-language songs, billboards, radio and television advertisements, picnics and other methods.

Now, with the May 4 deadline for most applicants just eight weeks away, they’re turning to . . . milk cartons.

Starting next month, it was announced in San Diego Tuesday, half-gallon containers of milk produced by Riverside-based Swiss Dairies and sold throughout Southern California will carry a pointed message: Consumers will be put on notice that May 4 is the last day for applicants to file under the general amnesty program.

On Tuesday, officials in San Diego unveiled two prototype milk-carton messages, one in English and the other in Spanish.

“Live the dream that brought you to America,” says the English version.

The Spanish message: “Las estrellas estan a su alcance , “ which translates literally as “The stars are within your grasp.”

‘A Great Idea’

“This is a great idea,” said Harold Ezell, regional commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. “We’re trying to find creative ways to get the message across.”

The milk-carton messages will begin appearing sometime next month on 50,000 half-gallon containers produced each day and will continue through May 4, said Frank Najor, who heads the Swiss Dairies distributorship in San Diego. The milk is sold at outlets throughout San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange and Imperial counties, said Najor, whose firm has also published the names of missing children on its containers.

Swiss Dairies is picking up the cost of the project, which was suggested by immigration officials in San Diego, Najor said.

The milk-carton idea is part of a broader effort by immigration authorities to bolster applications for the amnesty program. On Saturday, March 19, immigration officials throughout the West are planning an Amnesty Awareness Day, featuring picnics, speeches and other promotional events.

The INS had hoped to receive 2 million amnesty applications by May 4, but it now appears that the actual number of applicants will be considerably fewer. Moves are afoot in Congress to extend the deadline, but the INS opposes an extension.

Critics have assailed the official publicity effort as woefully inadequate. Many prospective applicants are missing opportunities for amnesty, detractors say, because they are unaware of the program’s requirements or confused about the process.

“They (immigration officials) have done too little, too late,” said Roberto Martinez, director of the U.S.-Mexico border program for the American Friends Service Committee, social action arm of the Quaker Church. “A lot of people are going to miss out.”

The 1986 immigration law raised the possibility of legal status for undocumented immigrants who have lived in the United States since Jan. 1, 1982. Some agricultural workers may qualify under a more liberal program; farm laborers have until next Dec. 1 to apply.