House Approves Extended Alien Amnesty Effort

The House Wednesday narrowly approved a bill that would extend by almost seven months the May 4 deadline for illegal aliens to apply for legal resident status but the legislation still faces major obstacles in the Senate and the threat of a presidential veto.

The measure, passed by a vote of 213 to 201, kept alive the hopes of immigration rights groups for additional time to encourage more illegal aliens to apply for legal amnesty.

Less than 1.2 million persons have applied so far under the one-year program, more than a million short of some early projections of the expected turnout. The House bill would extend the application period to Nov. 30.

Acknowledge Difficulty

Some advocates acknowledged that it will be difficult to persuade the Senate to follow suit in view of the continued opposition by Senate Republican Whip Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming, a key sponsor of last year’s massive immigration reform legislation.

“It looks grim in the Senate,” said one lobbyist pushing for the extension. “It’s such an emotional issue.”

But Charles Kamasaki, spokesman for the National Council of La Raza, a Latino organization in the forefront of the extension drive, said that he was encouraged by the outcome in the House.

“A number of people said this (victory) was politically impossible,” he said after the vote. “ . . . I am reasonably confident the Senate will go along with the House.” Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), acting chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and an outspoken supporter of the extension, said that he plans to bypass committee consideration of the House-approved bill in hopes of getting immediate Senate action, an aide said.

Simpson’s opposition “makes it very difficult,” the aide said, adding that Kennedy would try to persuade the influential Republican lawmaker to change his mind.

The House also defied White House warnings that President Reagan would veto legislation providing additional time for the aliens who are eligible for legal status--those who were in this country illegally before 1982.

In the meantime, organizations supporting the extension urged aliens who qualify for amnesty to apply before the current May 4 deadline to make sure their cases will be considered if the extension effort fails.

Rep. Peter W. Rodino Jr. (D-N.J.) chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, estimated that another 2 million persons might “come out of the shadows” and apply for legal status if the deadline for applications is extended until the fall.

Rodino said that the Immigration and Naturalization Service got a slow start on administering the law and failed to adequately publicize the amnesty provisions among aliens affected by it.

Opponents of the bill, however, argue that aliens who come under its provisions have had enough time to learn about the program and that the government should not run up additional costs simply because these aliens have procrastinated. Opponents also noted research indicating that aliens have not come forward because of suspicion of the INS and because of fears of family separation, with some members qualifying and others forced to return to their homelands. Such concerns would not be resolved through a longer application period, they said.

Opponent Cites Cost

“This bill would take a bad idea and make it worse,” said Rep. Pat Swindall (R-Ga.), who led the opposition forces. “It will cost the American people millions of dollars for procrastinators.”

But the House majority went along with the view expressed by two Texas Democrats who originally opposed the amnesty provision when it squeaked through the House by a seven-vote margin in 1986.

“For much of the year, the program has been mired in confusion, rather than functioning smoothly as Congress intended,” wrote Rep. John Bryant and Rep. Ronald D. Coleman in a letter to their colleagues.

A later deadline would “not extend eligibility for legalization to anyone who does not already qualify--it simply assures that the legalization program follows original congressional intent,” they said.

Rep. Daniel E. Lungren (R-Long Beach), who described himself as a card-carrying conservative, also voted for the extension, saying: “It’s just good sense and a humane approach to a complex problem.”

Calls Process ‘Tedious’

Dolores Huerta, first vice president of the United Farm Workers who lobbied for the bill, said that the legalization process is “extremely tedious and expensive” and that more time is justified to help aliens meet the law’s requirements.

The measure also authorized an additional $2 million to publicize the amnesty provisions.

In a report cited in the debate, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that a six-month extension would result in another 100,000 applications for the program.