Rights Group Urges Liberal Rules for 2nd Phase of Amnesty Program

A group of immigrant rights organizations in Los Angeles called on federal and state authorities Monday to adopt liberal rules and policies that will govern the second phase of the amnesty program under which 1.9 million illegal aliens have applied nationwide.

Rigid rules covering the second phase of the amnesty program, in which applicants must show a proficiency in English and a knowledge of U.S. civics and history, would “freeze out” hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens, contended Linda Wong, a co-chairperson of the 43-member Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights of Los Angeles.

“We should do everything possible . . . to minimize any attrition that might occur as a result of excessive demands on language proficiency or other unduly burdensome requirements,” she told a Mid-Wilshire-area news conference.

Under the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, illegal aliens can become legal U.S. residents if they have resided in this country prior to Jan. 1, 1982. In the act’s first phase, nearly 2 million aliens, including 900,000 in the greater Los Angeles area, applied.

Attain Proficiency

Now, under the second phase, they have 18 months to begin classes to attain the required proficiency, and many immigrant advocates are leery over how the Immigration and Naturalization Service will oversee the program.

With Monday being the last day to publicly comment on the draft set of the Phase 2 regulations, Wong and others at the news conference argued in favor of several changes to make the proposed rules and policies less stringent. Among other things, they favor:

- Aliens being allowed to take the civics portions of the exam in their native language. Wong said an estimated 30% of the applicants may be illiterate and should not have to take the exam in English.

- The INS dropping the proposed $100 fee for second-stage applicants. The fee is unnecessary, Wong said, because the amount of paper work needed is much less than the documents required in the first phase to prove continuous residence since before 1982.

- The on-site monitoring of the English and civics courses be done by the institutions and organizations offering the classes, not the INS. The agencies offering the classes are the most knowledgeable ones to evaluate the programs’ effectiveness, Wong said.

- Most importantly, state officials increasing the amount of aid to community-based groups and labor unions offering English and civics courses--an estimated $150 per student--to $500, the federal government’s limit of support for such programs.

Two union officials at the news conference, Dave Sickler of the AFL-CIO’s Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and Jeff Stansbury of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, argued that the $150 in state aid, which breaks down to $2.49 per student hour, is insufficient to cover start-up costs for groups that customarily do not conduct educational classes.

“The unions want to do this for their membership,” Sickler said. “This is not as a profit-making enterprise.”

Union officials said an estimated 5,000 of their members signed up for amnesty and the unions’ continued involvement in amnesty was important.

Support for the classes has been a crucial issue, because so many illegal aliens signed up for amnesty. For example, last year, the Los Angeles Unified School District had nearly 40,000 people on waiting lists seeking English classes in the adult schools. Other school districts offering English classes at night have been inundated with prospective students.

Level of Support

In Washington, INS spokesman Duke Austin said the level of support for the classes was an issue for state authorities, because the $1 billion appropriated by Congress to help implement the immigration act was funneled to them.

But in Sacramento, state Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig countered late Monday that federal authorities were to blame for the inadequate support.

“You should see the requirements they’ve put” on the funds, he said.

Austin dismissed many of the arguments brought up at the coalition news conference, saying Congress had discussed those matters when it debated passage of the 1986 immigration law. He emphasized that Wong’s arguments pertained to a draft set of regulations. The final regulations, after two public comment periods, are not expected until September, Austin said.

“This is a classic example of people already screaming about the (final) regulations before they ever see them,” he said.