Last-Minute Applicants Continue Their Surge to INS Amnesty Offices

An eleventh-hour surge of applicants continued to keep business brisk Tuesday at INS amnesty centers in the San Diego area and elsewhere in the country. Officials are braced for what is expected to be a hectic conclusion to the one-year application period at midnight today.

“We’re gearing up, and everybody’s hanging in there until we close at midnight,” said Richard Batchelor, chief legalization officer at the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service center at 463 N. Midway Drive, Escondido.

San Diego County’s two legalization offices will be open today from 8 a.m. until midnight; the completed applications of anyone in line at midnight will be accepted for processing, officials said. Many social-service organizations assisting immigrants will also remain open until midnight. Applicants can also file at INS-designated agencies, including four in San Diego operated by Catholic Community Services.

Throughout the nation this week, amnesty aspirants were leaving the safety of their homes, neighborhoods and jobs to file applications with the hope of ending their shadow existences.

“Now, I don’t have to be afraid of anything,” said Juan, a 27-year-old laborer who filed in San Diego but declined to give his last name. “I may save enough money to buy a truck and do my own business. I could never have done that before.”

Applicants cited a variety of reasons when asked why they waited until the last minute: fear of apprehension by the INS, difficulties tracking down proof of their time in the United States, plain old procrastination and a lack of funds. Many said the $185 application fee, the $50 or so for a medical examination and other associated costs were prohibitive.

“We had to sacrifice to come up with the money,” said Santos Beniquez, a 42-year-old hotel worker who was in line in San Diego.

Applicants must have the application fee in hand to file at the INS offices. Some INS-designated agencies are accepting applications without immediate payment. Also, the INS is allowing applicants two more months to come up with proof of their time in the United States, but everyone must file by today.

An air of expectation was evident in the amnesty offices, where staffers were working on overtime--and adrenaline. Workers will be putting in double shifts today.

“We’re in third gear and going down the home stretch to make sure that we get everyone in,” said Clifton Rogers, the INS deputy district director in San Diego.

At the legalization center at 3247 Mission Village Drive, San Diego, crowds of 200 or more lined up to gather information, pick up the needed paper work and to complete and turn in applications.

“Everything’s copacetic here,” said Robert L. Coffman, the legalization director at the San Diego office, where officials were expecting to accept more than 1,000 applications Tuesday--eclipsing the record 800 turned in Monday.

Since last May 5, when the program began, almost 60,000 people have applied for amnesty in San Diego and Imperial counties, not including those from special farm-worker stations at Calexico and Otay Mesa. The figures exceed earlier projections of 52,500 applicants.

Though INS officials have called the program a success, critics say thousands of people have yet to apply, because of fear of the INS, lack of paper work or other reasons. Activists fought hard for an extension of the application period, but the effort died in Congress.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 raised the possibility of legal status for undocumented immigrants who had been living in the United States since Jan. 1, 1982. Those who performed at least 90 days of farm work during 1985-86 may qualify under more liberal guidelines, and farm workers have until Nov. 30 to file their applications.