Hundreds Flock to INS Offices as Wednesday’s Amnesty Deadline Nears

With only two days left to apply for legal residency, hundreds of undocumented workers crowded into the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service office in Santa Ana on Monday to file their applications.

“This is the busiest day so far since we’ve been open,” INS employee Roman Fernandez said.

The deadline for filing for amnesty under the new federal immigration law is midnight Wednesday.

Fernandez said about 125 people were waiting in line to file their applications when the office at 1901 S. Ritchey St. opened Monday at 8 a.m. The office averaged 154 applications an hour, according to officials.

But Fernandez said that between noon and 1 p.m., about 400 applications had been received. Officials said about 2,000 applications were expected to be filed in the Santa Ana office by closing time Monday.

As of 5 p.m. Monday, Orange County’s two other INS offices, in Buena Park and Garden Grove, each reported receiving about 350 applications.

“A lot of people were misled,” Fernandez said. “They thought there was going to be an extension.”

George Newland, chief legalization officer in Santa Ana, said about 41,000 undocumented workers have filed for legal status since his office opened last May. “It’s going to be about 50,000 before we’re through,” Newland predicted.

The county’s three INS offices will remain open until midnight today and Wednesday, Newland said.

“We’re going to be open as long as we have to be, even if it goes past midnight between now and Wednesday,” he said.

In addition, the government announced that it will allow illegal aliens to apply by mail as long as the signed forms and application fees are postmarked by midnight Wednesday.

To be eligible for amnesty, a person must have lived in the United States since Jan. 1, 1982.

Newland said anyone wishing to apply for legalization must fill out a standard application form, which can be obtained at any INS office. He said documentation to substantiate claims of employment and medical conditions will not be required until the applicant is summoned for an interview.

Anyone filing now, he said, would probably not be called until August or September.

In addition to filling out the application, a processing fee of $185 per adult and $50 per child is required, Newland said.

Some immigrants at the Santa Ana office on Monday said they had filed their applications in Los Angeles County in February but were informed by mail that their interviews would be conducted in Orange County.

Officials at the Santa Ana office said they did not know of anyone who had been referred to their office from Los Angeles County as a result of long lines Monday, but that immigrants can file applications at any office they choose.

Ramon Marrufo, an undocumented worker from West Los Angeles, said he took the day off from his $6-an-hour job as a delivery driver to attend his interview.

Marrufo, 27, said he has lived in the United States since 1979. “When the amnesty started, I knew I could apply. I knew I would be able to stay here,” he said. But Marrufo said he was not so sure about his wife and two children, because they had arrived in late 1983, months after the official deadline.

Immigration officials said that if Marrufo is granted legal residency, his family could apply to stay in the United States, but that they would not be able to work until he became an American citizen. The process, officials said, could take up to eight years.

Veronica Rodas, 22, of Guatemala was also waiting to be interviewed Monday afternoon. Rodas said she has lived in Los Angeles County, where she works as a cook on a hot lunch truck, for seven years.

She said she came to the United States to visit a friend in 1981 and never went back. “I’m happy. I like this country better,” Rodas said.