Mahony Assails INS on Amnesty Program : Immigration: The archbishop accuses the agency of ‘bad faith’ in denying late applications from about 200,000 illegal aliens eligible for amnesty.

Archbishop Roger M. Mahony, head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, accused U.S. immigration officials Thursday of showing “bad faith” by using technicalities to ignore the vast majority of late applications from about 200,000 aliens eligible for amnesty.

The spiritual leader of 3.4 million Catholics in the archdiocese said Congress should force the Immigration and Naturalization Service to accept these applications under the landmark Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which extends legalization to illegal immigrants.

At a Los Angeles news conference, the Catholic prelate said the INS in many cases rejected applications because its personnel was misinformed or ignorant of agency regulations governing these late applications.

“In fact, thousands of applicants were turned away ‘over the counter,’ ” Mahony said. “Failure of the INS to publish instructions with these new applications and the overall inadequacy of the staff levels assigned to accept these new cases have all converged to result in a potential major and unacceptable loss of opportunity for the very people Congress intended to assist.”

Pressed by reporters, the archbishop said that some people in the INS wanted the late registration period to fail.

“I just have grave suspicions that there are some (in the INS) who did want to see this happen.”

The archbishop’s criticism brought a quick retort from INS officials, who in the past have said they enjoyed cordial cooperation with Mahony over the amnesty issue.

“I’m disappointed that anyone would think that the INS has demonstrated bad faith,” said William King, the director of the INS amnesty program in the West. “I feel sure that we’ve made every good-faith effort (by) training our people to the best extent possible.”

Under the amnesty law, illegals who lived in this country before Jan. 1, 1982, qualified for legal U.S. residency. An estimated 3.1 million aliens nationwide--with a third of them in greater Los Angeles--signed up during the one-year application period that ended May 4, 1988.

The filing period was extended, however, by a federal judge who ruled last year that the INS incorrectly rejected amnesty petitions from aliens who either improperly used visas to return to the United States during the sign-up period or left this country without INS permission. The INS appealed the ruling to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The extended sign-up period has led to the mistaken belief that there is a “late amnesty” program and to long lines of aliens waiting to apply under the court order. The waiting has led to frustration and, in some instances, fistfights among aliens waiting in lines at some INS offices.

A Los Angeles attorney, who appeared with Mahony at the news conference, also accused the INS of using technicalities to avoid processing the late applications, saying that agency is simply afraid to admit it mistakenly rejected these aliens in the first place.

“They just won’t admit that,” said Peter A. Schey, executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law in Los Angeles, who is opposing INS efforts in court to end the sign-up period for late applicants.

“They’re asking (the 9th Circuit) to end it in 90 days,” he said. “We don’t think there ought to be a cut-off. But if there has to be one, I think six months is enough time.”

Schey contended that allegations that most late applications are fraudulent are unfounded, adding that the INS is using the claim as a means to deny many late applications. “There is no more fraud in this than in any other amnesty program,” he said.

Recently, the INS said that of the 5,456 applications handled in Los Angeles in July because of the court order, 243 qualified for amnesty. Most of the applicants either used fraudulent documents or failed to show up for interviews, said Robert Moschorak, INS district director in Los Angeles.