Disputed Plan for New Green Cards Revived by INS : Immigration: Officials say program--and $70-a-person charge--are needed to fight counterfeiting. Critics term the proposal nearly identical to one voided by a federal judge in May.

Federal immigration authorities seeking to crack down on rampant document fraud are proposing a revised mandatory program to replace and update some 1.5 million green cards nationwide.

Included in the proposal is a $70 fee that immigrant representatives call illegal. The government is under a court order to provide refunds to up to 334,000 immigrants who paid $70 each for counterfeit-resistant green cards as part of an earlier program that was struck down in federal court.

The fee is needed to offset the costs of providing improved documentation to longtime lawful, permanent residents whose current green cards are susceptible to tampering and counterfeiting, according to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Along with genuine green cards, the INS estimates that at least 1.5 million forged and illegally altered versions are in circulation.

“It’s much harder for someone to duplicate the new card,” said Verne Jervis, an INS spokesman, who noted that the updated document includes the bearer’s photograph, signature and fingerprints and can be scanned mechanically at ports and offices. (The older, fraud-susceptible version generally only has a signature.)

The proposed green card replacement plan--which is still awaiting final agency action--would replace a 1992-93 program that a federal judge voided in May as illegal because of procedural errors, including the agency’s failure to provide adequate public notice. But the suggested new initiative retains many disputed provisions of the earlier effort, including the $70 fee. The judge made no ruling on whether the INS has the right to levy a fee for a replacement card.

“The proposal is basically the same program as before,” said Charles Wheeler, director of the National Immigration Law Center, a Los Angeles-based legal assistance organization that is handling a class-action lawsuit challenging the green card initiatives.

Targeted for replacement are all green cards issued before 1978, when the INS enhanced security features and mandated periodic expiration dates. The pre-1978 documents exist in 17 different incarnations, in various colors.

A green card, known officially as an alien registration receipt card, is essentially a proof of lawful U.S. residence status that holders can show to employers and immigration officials. Authorities say 1.5 million immigrants nationwide hold the pre-1978 versions that are at issue.

Immigrant advocates vow additional court action, disputing the agency’s right to charge for something that confers no additional benefits. Critics call the measure an illegal tax on longtime residents, many of them elderly, who are obliged to visit agency offices, wait in long lines, fill out applications and pay fees--all to obtain an updated rendition of a document that they already possess.

“Many senior citizens are extremely frightened by this whole proposition,” said Susan Alva, project coordinator with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.

Opponents do not dispute the agency’s right to revise the document. But activists insist that the process be free of charge and more expedient, perhaps including a proviso allowing residents to apply by mail and extending the application period beyond the proposed one year. While the INS is seeking a 10-year expiration date on the new cards, advocates want the documents to be valid permanently, like the earlier versions.

The agency will take into account all suggestions submitted as part of the rule-making process, said Jervis, the INS spokesman.

Immigration officials say the program is a response to the widespread document fraud that has hampered the effectiveness of a 1986 federal statute barring the hiring of unlawful residents, considered a cornerstone of efforts to halt illicit immigration. That law obliges employers to verify the legal status of all new employees, but many undocumented workers have circumvented the requirement by presenting bogus documentation--especially phony green cards. Modern security features should cut down on such abuse, the agency argues.

“The more difficult it is to counterfeit a document the more effective the law is,” Jervis said.

The INS is under a federal court order to provide refunds to as many as 334,000 immigrants who paid the $70 fee under the previous program, including at least 60,000 who reside in Southern California. The agency collected up to $23 million in fees nationwide and distributed the new green cards.

Federal authorities are requesting that the court lift the refund order, which the INS says is too costly and too much of a burden for an agency already understaffed for its many tasks. Immigrant groups say the agency should be required to pay the money back, since the agency’s own errors led to the federal judge’s refund order. A hearing is scheduled for September.