INS Sued Over Plan to Revoke Pre-’77 Green Cards

Longtime legal immigrants filed a federal class-action lawsuit Tuesday in Sacramento to try to block the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service from revoking all green cards issued before 1977 and making those who hold them reapply for a new document.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of the cardholders by the National Immigration Law Center and other immigrants rights groups, accuses the INS of breaking its own regulations and seeks an injunction to stop the mass revocation and keep the pre-1977 cards valid.

The suit further charges that the $70 renewal fee is unfairly high and constitutes an unjustified and illegal tax on thousands of longtime legal U.S. residents.

Legal immigrants need the so-called green cards, newer versions of which come in different colors such as pink, to prove that they are registered with the INS as resident aliens and entitled to work in the United States.

INS spokeswoman Virginia Kice said that immigrants rights groups filed a similar suit last week in Miami, but she declined to comment on either complaint.

INS officials have said they are conducting a yearlong campaign to replace the oldest green cards, known as I-151s, with new, tamper-resistant cards known as I-551s because thousands of false green cards are in circulation.

The new cards, which have the bearer’s signature, photograph and fingerprint, are good for only 10 years, unlike the old ones, which were issued with no expiration date. They also contain an electronic strip that will allow them to be read by machine, which INS officials have said will make them easier to authenticate.

Those who fail to obtain the new cards by Aug. 1, 1993, will be ineligible to receive them, said Charles Wheeler, directing attorney of the center, which filed the suit along with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and California Rural Legal Assistance.

The class-action suit seeks to represent up to 500,000 immigrants in the INS’ western region covering California, Arizona, Hawaii and Nevada who still hold the I-151 green cards issued before 1977, he said.

Of the plaintiffs, Wheeler said: “They found us. People started calling in and complaining, and we just followed it from there.”

Wheeler said the plaintiffs expressed outrage at the size of the fee and the INS’ refusal to waive it or the renewal requirement.

He said that the INS has enlisted nonprofit agencies in outlying areas--such as churches and religious charities--to act as agents for the reapplication program.

Many of those agencies charge processing fees on top of the $70 reapplication fee and the cost of new photographs for the new I-551 cards, Wheeler said.

Without a green card, legal immigrants find it hard to prove their immigration status, Wheeler said.

“You essentially are still a permanent resident alien,” he said. “You just lose any evidence of that, which means that should you want to get another job, you cannot show proof of that. . . . You’re unable to work because every employer must verify your employability. You won’t qualify for unemployment, insurance or welfare.”