OXNARD : Agency Will Soon Offer Green Cards

U.S. immigration officials will soon allow an Oxnard social services agency to accept applications to replace old green cards with new, tamper-resistant cards, a move that reduces hardship on families unable to travel out of the county.

El Concilio del Condado de Ventura is one of more than 60 agencies from San Luis Obispo County to Orange County permitted by the Immigration and Naturalization Service this week to process applications for the new cards, which prove permanent resident immigration status.

The replacement campaign could affect about 20,000 resident card holders in Ventura County.

The INS initially required legal immigrants to travel to an immigration office in Los Angeles or Orange County to get the new cards.

But Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) and immigrant-rights activists called on the INS to open local immigration centers to reduce hardships on legal immigrants.

“We told the INS that we would be interested in holding outreach activities here,” said Greg Simons, El Concilio’s immigration coordinator.

Simons said he pushed for the reopening of the former INS office in Oxnard so that other immigration services could also be provided. But the INS said that was not an option.

The Oxnard INS office closed in early 1991.

“I talked to the person who used to run the Oxnard (INS) office and she didn’t seem too optimistic,” Simons said. “They’re having trouble keeping their other offices open.”