Immigrant Advocates to Test Clout

Advocates for immigrants, buoyed by their success in reversing a key provision of the 1996 welfare reform law, are gathering their political strength to press for a host of fresh concessions from the GOP-led Congress.

The advocates and their allies on Capitol Hill acknowledge that the breadth of their agenda will put their legislative clout to the test: This month alone, they are aiming to win a reprieve for Central American refugees facing deportation, secure new funds for the federal offices that process applications for citizenship and reverse a measure that would force many people who entered the country legally to leave and not return for at least three years.

Beyond that, immigrant-advocacy groups hope to build on their recent success in restoring Supplemental Security Income to elderly and disabled noncitizen immigrants. In a next step that many acknowledge will be difficult to win, they want to restore some aid to the nearly 900,000 holders of green cards who lost food stamps under last year’s welfare reform legislation.

For California and Los Angeles, the stakes are very high. Nearly half of those losing food stamps live in California, and about 160,000 Central Americans facing deportation reside in the state.

According to Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles), many green-card holders in Los Angeles wait two years or more to have their citizenship applications processed. In some cities, the delay has climbed to five years, and the lines of applicants have grown to record numbers across the country.

But while Republican and Democratic lawmakers who represent large foreign-born populations have joined forces to fight for the changes, they face opposition from powerful lawmakers such as Rep. Lamar S. Smith (R-Texas), who chairs the House subcommittee that handles immigration issues.

The latest campaigns get underway in an atmosphere of renewed urgency because several changes in immigration law take effect this month. The end of the government’s fiscal year on Sept. 30 also marks a deadline for efforts to streamline the naturalization process for a record number of people with green cards applying for citizenship. A key provision of the welfare reform law halts food stamps for almost 1 million immigrant noncitizens.

But the campaigns also come at a time of ferment within the Republican Party on immigration issues. Smith and a handful of Republicans who have long been active on such issues--including Reps. Elton Gallegly of Simi Valley and Brian P. Bilbray of San Diego--have continued to advocate policies that would tighten the rules under which immigrants could enter the country legally.

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Others, however, including House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) and California Republicans Christopher Cox of Newport Beach and Tom Campbell of San Jose, have argued in Congress and within party circles for greater openness.

Recently, House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) threw his support behind a measure that would block the deportation of thousands of Central Americans who fled to the United States during the long periods of civil strife in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala. Such high-level support for their agenda has convinced many advocates for immigrants that the balance of congressional power is shifting in their favor.

“You have forces in the [Republican] party that want to get on the right side of this issue in the ascendancy. But they still tend to listen to Lamar Smith,” said Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, which lobbies for extended immigrant rights.

“But . . . they’re going to have to make some calls: Are they going to listen to Lamar Smith or are they going to try to repair their reputation with the fastest-growing group of new voters in electorally rich states? It’ll be revealing to see which way they go. And we’re cautiously optimistic.”

Among the key immigration issues to be debated this fall:

* Central American refugees: Some 300,000 Central Americans nationwide could be subject to deportation under strict new guidelines enacted as part of a comprehensive 1996 immigration law. The Immigration and Naturalization Service is expected to begin sending large numbers of the Central Americans home in the coming months.

The immigrants from El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala came here as refugees from war and civil strife, and most were permitted to stay under a number of programs. But the 1996 immigration law established tougher standards. To avoid deportation, an immigrant now must show, among other things, that leaving would cause “extreme or exceptional hardship” to a U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse, child or parent. Immigration groups hope to get Congress to adopt the standards in place before the 1996 measure, allowing a deportation to be halted if the immigrant could show such action would cause extreme personal hardship.

* Adjusting immigration status from within the United States: On Sept. 30, 1997, a key immigration provision in place since 1994 expires, leaving many who came into this country legally with difficult choices. The provision, called 245I, allows immigrants, for a penalty of $1,000, to change their status (say, from a student visa to a permanent resident visa) while remaining in the United States rather than returning to their home countries and applying for new status with the U.S. consulate there.

When 245I expires, immigrants will have to return to their countries of origin to apply for a change in status, causing financial hardship, family separation and job disruption for many, advocates say.

In addition, a key provision of the 1996 immigration measure will deal harshly with those who may have overstayed visas. That provision dictates that any immigrant still in the United States with an expired visa must return home to reapply and will be barred from returning for three to 10 years. Immigration advocates want the life of 245I extended. They say it has generated more than $100 million in revenues for the U.S., reduced the workload on overseas consular offices and made it easier for legal immigrants to remain here legally.

* Funding improved processing of citizenship applications: About 1.4 million immigrants are now waiting to become U.S. citizens, a record number of applications that has overwhelmed the limited staffs of INS offices across the country. Backlogs have doubled in the past three years.

The INS got funds last year to hire temporary employees to reduce the backlog, but their contracts expire Sept. 30. The Clinton administration has asked Congress to approve a shift of $200 million within the INS’ approved 1997 budget to extend the contracts of the extra hands. But many Republican lawmakers are ill-disposed to the request. They point to past INS mismanagement and allegations that the administration has used immigration programs to build Democratic voter rolls.

Becerra sees other motives at work, however.

“This is simply a case of the Republicans not liking the results of legal immigrants becoming citizens,” he said. “But this a self-inflicted wound for the Republicans. And it’s a losing battle too, because ultimately these people will become citizens, even if it takes two years. And if you want to set someone against you for the rest of your life, keep them from getting something they paid for and had a right to.”