Thousands of Farm Workers Flood INS Office to Seek Resident Cards : Immigration: Officials say obtaining a permanent record is the final step before applicants can become U.S. citizens under a 1986 reform law.

Thousands of farm workers and their families flocked to the Immigration and Naturalization Service Legalization Office in downtown Oxnard on Monday to apply for permanent resident cards, despite an INS decision to under-publicize the first day of eligibility.

The farm workers had been told months ago by the INS that beginning in December, they could apply for permanent resident cards--the final step before becoming U.S. citizens under the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act.

But INS officials said Monday that all temporary residents who fall under the immigration law’s farm worker program automatically become permanent residents. Obtaining the permanent resident card is simply a formality, said Madeline Van Wagenen of INS regional headquarters in Laguna Hills.

“You could conceivably never pick up your card and still be a legal resident,” she said. Van Wagenen added that the INS purposely refrained from publicizing the fact that, starting Monday, applications for the permanent cards would be available because the agency didn’t want its offices to be overwhelmed by applicants.

“This is just a formality, and there are no deadlines. We want people to come at their convenience,” she said.

Despite the INS decision not to publicize the opening day--or perhaps because many workers didn’t realize that the cards aren’t necessary--the scene at the Oxnard office on Monday was chaotic.

At noon, lines of confused immigrants extended from the office around the corner of Fourth and A streets. Inside, the line dissolved into a mass of about 50 people pressing against the INS counter, where two employees grabbed temporary residence cards from people’s outstretched hands and prepared applications.

Two phones behind the counter rang constantly, causing employees to stop processing applications to answer the calls.

Every five minutes or so, chief legal aide Josefina Hazuka put down application cards to pick up a phone connected to the loudspeaker system.

“Senores, porrrr favorrrr . Please maintain the calm,” she implored in Spanish, the only language heard in the office Monday. “There are plenty of application forms, and we’re open until 4 o’clock.”

Hazuka said the number of cases handled by the five-member office Monday ballooned to more than 3,000, more than triple the number handled on a normally busy day. At no time, however, did Hazuka tell the applicants that they didn’t need the cards to become permanent residents, referring all questions to the legalization office in Laguna Hills.

The landmark law will enable about 1.4 million illegal aliens to become U.S. residents, and up to 350,000 farm workers are eligible. To qualify, they must prove that they worked in agriculture on 90 days in 1985, or for 90 days a year for three consecutive years beginning in 1986, ’87 or ’88.

The process has three steps. First, the laborers apply to become eligible for temporary residence; starting Monday, those who lived in the United States for more than six months since becoming temporary residents were awarded permanent residence. The final step, U.S. citizenship, is optional and becomes available after five years of permanent residence.

As permanent residents, farm workers are eligible to apply for resident status for their spouses and children. The cards cost $35, and processing them can take up to six months, INS officials said.

Many of the immigrants said they wanted their cards so they could begin working to bring their relatives into the country. Eligible immigrants can begin the process immediately.

“We’re doing this for the family, which is far away from us,” said Teresa Arriola, 44, who was standing in line with her sister, a grandchild and a daughter-in-law. “My husband and four children are far away from us” in the state of Michoacan in central Mexico, “and I miss them very much.”

Others said they wanted the cards for their own peace of mind. They said permanent residents received better treatment at work and had more access to jobs.

Macario Perez, 56, said he wanted the card because “I don’t want to be a wetback. I don’t want to run every time I see the migra, “ the term many Latinos use to describe the Border Patrol. “Without the card, you have no rights, no hopes and no benefits,” said Perez, who has worked on the Somis avocado crop for the past 15 years.

For other immigrants, getting a permanent resident card was simply the culmination of a dream.

“This is the chance to reside legitimately, to improve my way of life,” said Omar Mejia, 39, who a decade ago fled from the civil war in El Salvador.

Mejia, who makes $5.25 an hour picking strawberries in Santa Maria, said he hopes to become a mechanic or a computer operator someday. “This country gives great benefits to the people who want to improve themselves, and I will study a lucrative career,” he said as his wife, Josefina, smiled approvingly.