‘96 Immigration Law Causing Rise in Deportations

Luis Gabriel Gurrea and his wife, Mireya, were awakened before dawn by rustling noises in the backyard of their Van Nuys home.

When they sat up, a spotlight was beamed into their eyes. Fists pounded on the door. Then, immigration agents stormed the house. “What’s your name?” they asked.

When Gurrea answered, they twisted his arms behind his back, handcuffed and arrested him. Mireya grabbed their 6-month-old daughter, Megan, and cried, “Stop! It’s a mistake.”

Within 48 hours of the Sept. 15 raid, Gurrea--who entered the country legally in 1988--was separated from his family, thrown into jail and deported to his homeland, Argentina. Left alone to support their daughter, Mireya wondered how the life they built in this country had so easily been ripped apart.

“Do they just destroy families like this?” she asked.

Her husband was one of those caught in the bureaucratic snare created by tougher immigration laws passed by Congress in 1996. The idea of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act was to make it easier for the Immigration and Naturalization Service to deport illegal immigrants.

But, critics complain, the law overextends its reach to include legal entrants, such as Gurrea, who misunderstood the new requirements and failed to file documents on time.

Since the law went into effect, deportations in the Los Angeles area have increased dramatically. In 1996, the INS deported 6,890 illegal residents. The next year, the agency ordered 9,278 people to leave the country.

“The law was meant to target people who had orders to leave and did not comply with those orders,” said INS district Director Richard Rogers.

Currently, there are 4,925 illegal immigrants in Los Angeles who, like Gurrea, have been issued final deportation orders and could be taken from their homes as he was.

Jean Butterfield, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Assn. in Washington, D.C., believes the law goes too far. Her organization and several others are contemplating appeals to change the legislation, saying it was blindly put into effect without any regulations or guidelines.

“On the face, he is deportable,” she said of Gurrea. “Yet, it seems cases like this should not be high priorities for the INS.”

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Whether Gurrea, a soft-spoken office supervisor with no criminal record, is allowed to reunite with his family in the United States is seen as a test of how the new law will be applied.

Although the law bars Gurrea from reentering the country for 10 years, a waiver makes an exception if a spouse will suffer extreme hardship because of the separation.

Few would argue that Mireya is not enduring emotional hardship. Beside the absence of her husband, she is still recovering from being raped.

“I need my husband home,” said Mireya Gurrea, 32.

Meanwhile, the 39-year-old man sobbed on the telephone from Buenos Aires as he described the traumatic episode that has transformed his life.

“They never let me explain anything,” he said of the INS officials at the San Pedro jail, where he was held for two days. “I’m not a criminal. I paid my taxes every year. I just want to be back with my wife and daughter. Here in Argentina, I have nothing.”

Gurrea came to Los Angeles in 1988 and applied for temporary residency under the late amnesty program. In January 1994, he met Mireya. By summer, the couple were living together.

Gurrea’s immigration troubles began in November 1995, when he returned to the United States after a brief trip to Argentina. Immigration officials stopped him at Los Angeles International Airport and discovered that his temporary visa had expired. They ordered him to an immigration hearing.

At the hearing, in early 1996, Gurrea was told his application to change his status from temporary to permanent resident had been denied because he did not file the proper paperwork. The judge ordered him “excluded” on March 13, 1996, which meant he had to leave the country.

But, Gurrea said, on the mistaken advice of an attorney, he ignored the exclusion order.

The attorney said that since he planned to marry Mireya the next year, Gurrea could remain in Los Angeles and file for change of status as the spouse of a U.S. citizen.

But because Gurrea had not filed for permanent residency, the INS argued he was in the country illegally. Under the new law, his exclusion status, unbeknown to him, became a final order of deportation.

Mireya and Gabriel Gurrea married on Oct. 25, 1997, thinking their troubles were over. Shortly after, Gurrea applied for an adjustment to his status and paid the $1,210 fee.

In April, he received a letter and receipt for the fee, which gave him the impression that his paperwork was in order. The letter said: “Adjustment of status has been received.”

“They took the $1,210 check, cashed it and in turn, deported my husband,” Mireya said. “Our marriage was not based on a green card. Don’t they realize what they’ve done to my life?”

Gurrea’s new lawyer, Roger Gleckman, said the fact that the INS took the money is irrelevant to the case because the deportation order preceded the application to change his status.

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Now, the couple hope to reunite through a provision in the law that grants exemptions because of extreme hardship. On Dec. 30, 1996, Mireya Gurrea was raped outside her home by a serial rapist preying on Latinas. Through her court testimony, the attacker, Jose Zarate, was convicted and sentenced to 157 years to life in prison.

Now, the attack may help bring her husband back home. She is seeking a waiver that would allow him back into the country because of her fragile emotional state.

“I’m still recovering from this horrible sexual attack,” she said. “How do they think I feel when I’m home alone?”

She has written to U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer for assistance in her appeal.

INS officials said that only a few waivers have been granted since the law was enacted. To be issued a waiver, the consulate of the immigrant’s native country also must approve.

In addition to the waiver, Gleckman must file two other documents to get Gurrea back in the United States: a new visa petition and a waiver of exclusion of deportability.

Meanwhile, Mireya Gurrea cannot pay for her three-bedroom house in Van Nuys on her salary, so she is searching for a small apartment for herself and her daughter. To raise money, she is selling her husband’s truck and most of their furniture.

“If I was strong enough for the trial,” she said, “I have to be strong enough to get him back.”