Immigration Deadline Causes Rush to File

Legal immigrants swamped local immigration service agencies Wednesday, the deadline to file applications seeking legal status for undocumented relatives.

“It’s overwhelming,” said immigration attorney Enrique Arevalo, a former president of the Mexican American Bar Assn. “About 700,000 people across the country are affected by the changes in the law.”

Federal officials last year extended the deadline--which had been Sept. 28 under the 1996 Immigration and Nationality Act--following a nationwide protest by immigration groups. Congress approved the extension to allow illegal immigrants extra time to apply for permanent residence without having to return to their homelands.

“They are calling us from all over the Valley,” said Priscilla Castro of Hermandad Mexicana Nacional in North Hollywood, an agency that assists immigrants. “These are hard-working people. They want more time. People are in tears. All these people want is a better future for their family.”

One Armenian woman, a U.S. citizen from Turkey, showed up at the Armenian Relief Society Social Services agency in Glendale to file a petition on behalf of her 42-year-old brother.

“I have two children,” said the woman, who did not want to give her name. “Some friends told me the government is going to extend the deadline. They didn’t. That’s why I am here now.”

Sona Zinzalian, executive director of the Armenian Relief Society Social Services agency, said the last-minute rush to file applications was marked by confusion.

“There were so many changes in the immigration, welfare and Medicare laws,” she said. “We are all confused.”