Second Wave : Next Step in Amnesty Plan Is Education

After four months of reciting English and absorbing the simplest truths of American government and history in her afternoon citizenship class in Norwalk, Edelmira Santana has made gains on two fronts.

The 42-year-old Mexican immigrant is brimming with new-found knowledge about the United States.

“I learn that there are 50 stars because of the 50 states,” she said in halting English. “And I know that there is 13--what is the name?--stripes for the 13 colonies.”

And for every hour she spends in class, Santana also inches closer toward clearing the next major hurdle of the nation’s legalization program for illegal aliens.

Detailed Records

Administrators at the Norwalk-La Mirada Adult School have filled a cardboard file folder to the bursting point with detailed records of the hours that Santana and 600 other amnesty applicants have spent in class.

In the months ahead, adult schools and other education programs throughout the country will begin compiling similar records to show immigration officials the progress that amnesty applicants are making toward becoming Americans.

The end of the yearlong amnesty period at midnight Wednesday completes only the first step of legalization. Next comes education and preparation for citizenship.

Starting in December, hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens who survived the first cut of legalization will prepare to submit another application and endure another interview. They will take an English and civics test or else, like Edelmira Santana, complete a crash course in those subjects. Those who complete the process will win permanent alien residency documents--”green cards”--and a chance to seek full citizenship.

Intense Debate

Only last month, the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service began to circulate tentative guidelines for its handling of legalization’s second stage. But those early draft procedures are already provoking intense debate and speculation among educators, lawyers, public interest workers and immigration experts.

There are predictions of shortages of adult classes and long waiting lists among amnesty applicants, confusion over the interpretation of INS rules and worries about the agency’s willingness and ability to mount an effective public relations campaign.

Immigration officials, smarting from widespread complaints about their operation of the amnesty program, stoutly insist that the second phase will be less controversial than the first.

“I think we’ll be in a better position,” said Terrance M. O’Reilly, the INS deputy assistant commissioner for legalization. “We’ll at least have an identified population to deal with and we should be able to control our workload.”

Expecting 1.4 Million

By midnight Wednesday, the agency expects to have files from 1.4 million amnesty applicants. By the end of the summer, most of those files--complete with vital statistics, addresses and questionnaires--will be entered into INS computers.

“Once everything’s computerized, the process will be very manageable,” said Joe Flanders, an INS spokesman.

On the surface, the agency’s proposed route for amnesty applicants seems simple enough: Immigrants whose amnesty applications have been approved are receiving a temporary alien registration card. Eighteen months from the day that they receive those cards, applicants become eligible to apply again to the INS, this time for their green cards.

The first wave of eligible immigrants will start applying this December. Immigrants will have a year to apply. When they do, the INS will set up an interview. During the interview, immigrants must show proof of continuing residence and evidence that they meet all the agency’s legalization requirements. Applicants will either have to pass a test showing their comprehension of English and civics or present a certificate from an INS-certified school proving that they have “successfully pursued” 30 hours of education. Those who pass get their green cards.

But the confusion and controversy that surrounded the INS’ handling of the amnesty program up until now has made many social service providers and volunteer groups leery about how efficient and fair the agency will be in the next stage.

“If the first step was hairy, the second step will be a thicket,” warned Michael Zamba, legislative advocate of the National Assn. of Latino Elected Officials.

In March, an American Bar Assn. forum on immigration issued 63 recommendations to improve the legalization process. Many touched on the program’s second phase and its education requirements. “Are our public and private adult education systems equipped to deal with such an influx of students within a very short training time frame?” the forum asked.

Last Friday, during a hearing into the matter by a California legislative committee, state educators said they would be prepared.

‘On Top of Situation’

“We’re on top of the situation,” said Domingo Rodriguez, who supervises the Los Angeles Unified School District’s amnesty program. Rodriguez predicted that the district will easily create space for 170,000 immigrants expected to apply for courses at city schools.

Immigration experts and educators who look at the situation from a national perspective are less optimistic. Bill Bliss, a language education consultant, expects as many as 700,000 immigrants throughout the country to apply for classes. There are already severe class shortages in some regions and, if they worsen, applicants may have to wait for months before they can start classes.

In New York, Bliss said, the waiting period is already so long that the city’s school district does not even maintain an official list--although conservative estimates place the backlog at 5,000 to 8,000 people.

“What happens if applicants are still on a waiting list and their interview is coming up? Will we have to push for another extension?” asked Zamba, referring to the lobbying effort that failed last week to persuade Congress to extend the amnesty period.

Faith in Program

Despite a current backlog of 18,000 students in Los Angeles, Rodriguez expects the list to dissolve once the school district starts its own ambitious program of amnesty education. But he acknowledged that some immigrants may apply to other education programs and end up on long waiting lists.

The length of those lists may depend on how many hours of class the immigrants are forced to take. INS guidelines suggest that applicants who want to avoid a test may instead “successfully pursue” at least 30 hours of a 60-hour course. But there is already an intense debate among educators over how successful that pursuit must be.

In California, education officials interpret the proposed rule to mean that immigrants who are illiterate in their own language or at a low level of competency may require up to 200 hours of classes--a full year of adult education--before they will be given their “30-hour” certificate.

“We are not fly-by-nights, which is what the INS regulations imply,” Rodriguez said. “We won’t teach green card English.”

‘A Disservice’

Other specialists say such action unfairly lengthens the education process and may force some immigrants to give up on legalization. “It’s a disservice to applicants if we insist that they take several hundred hours if the INS is only requiring them to take (30 hours),” Bliss said.

While educators debate the INS education guidelines, most are united in their concern about other aspects of the program. Many, for example, oppose an INS proposal to “monitor” amnesty classes.

Although agency officials have tried to quell the educators’ fears, saying their agents will not enter classrooms, school officials are apprehensive about the precedent that may be set by allowing INS agents on campus to examine class records.

“There’s a genuine concern about letting INS agents on school grounds in any capacity,” said Rosemary Trip, a legalization specialist with the National Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Forum.

Education Efforts Watched

Educators also wonder whether the INS will offer a strong public information campaign to inform immigrants about legalization’s second phase. Many immigration experts chided the INS for a meager first-phase amnesty information campaign, which geared up only in the final months of the program.

“These people (applicants) need the earliest, clearest understanding of their obligations,” said Dick Lynch, director of the American Bar Assn.’s task force on literacy. “They not only have to be made aware of education requirements, but they also need to know about restrictions on their ability to leave the country and take public assistance.”

INS Deputy Assistant Commissioner O’Reilly said the agency plans to notify immigrants at least twice by mail about their second-stage obligations. He said the agency is still unsure about a public information campaign, but added: “I’m sure there will be a strong public education component.”

‘Completely in the Dark’

At the Norwalk-La Mirada school, Assistant Director Ed Hengler interviews students who are also amnesty applicants. Most of them, he said, have no idea about requirements under the second stage of legalization.

“They’re completely in the dark,” Hengler said. “Obviously, we can guide them. But how about the hundreds of thousands out there who are not enrolled in school yet? Who will guide them?”

Hengler expects 800 amnesty applicants to apply for classes at his school over the next year, doubling the current waiting list of 800 immigrants.