Haven’s Price Is Called Too High : Immigration: Activists say many Salvadorans can’t afford to apply for new federal protections.

Immigrant advocates Wednesday protested what they called “excessive” fees that federal authorities plan to charge Salvadorans who seek temporary safe haven under a new national law.

The fees are prohibitive for many of the tens of thousands of Salvadorans who are eligible for the program, said representatives of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.

“It’s sabotaging the whole program,” coalition spokeswoman Linda Mitchell said.

The program, part of the landmark Immigration Act signed into law by President Bush late last year, offers legal status for 18 months to Salvadorans who entered this country before Sept. 19. Hailed as an important protection for Salvadorans, the program--officially called Temporary Protected Status--will allow Salvadorans to work in the United States legally.

To apply, a Salvadoran must fill out a series of forms and pay a fee of $75; an additional $35 is charged for a work authorization card. The Salvadoran must re-apply, and pay the fee again, each six months during the 18-month period, for a total of $330.

A four-member family, for example, could be charged $1,320.

The coalition of immigrant advocates, in a press conference at an Immigration and Naturalization Service office in Westlake, demanded that the fee be lowered to $50 and be assessed only once.

INS spokeswoman Virginia Kice said the “invaluable opportunity” that the program offers is well worth the fee.

“These people who are complaining that the program is unnecessarily costly . . . (should) look at the long-term benefit,” Kice said.

In the legislation, Kice said, Congress stipulated that the program be paid for by the beneficiaries and not by taxpayers.

But Mitchell and others said the costs are discouraging Salvadorans from applying. Already some Salvadorans were reluctant to come forward because, at the end of the 18-month period, participants in the program may face deportation if an extension is not granted by the U.S. attorney general’s office.

“In the case of families, if they can afford one application, it is usually for the principal wage-earner in the family, which leaves spouses and children unable to apply for protection,” the coalition said in a statement.