Clinton Expected to Sign Bill Granting Man U.S. Residency

Tony Lara, who came from El Salvador as a 10-year-old and grew up here without his parents, is only a signature away from being granted U.S. residency.

President Clinton is expected to sign a bill, introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) in January, that would grant Lara, now 20, permanent residency.

The bill, which passed the Senate in late September and the House last week, has not yet reached the president’s desk, a White House spokesman said late Tuesday. When it does, Clinton is expected to sign it within a few weeks, said aides for Feinstein and Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles), who sponsored the bill in the House.

“This is fabulous news,” said Judy London, Lara’s attorney. “We’ve been on pins and needles just waiting for this.”

“It’s great news,” said Magaly Rivas, Becerra’s press secretary. “It passed unanimously [in the House], and we don’t expect any problems.”

Lara came to the United States with his parents and younger sister, Olga, in 1990, fleeing civil war in his homeland. Later that year his mother was deported and drowned while trying to cross the border back into the United States.

Lara’s father abandoned him and his sister after turning to drugs and was deported in 1994.

Lara became a surrogate father to his sister. The youngsters struggled, sometimes living with friends, sometimes with extended family or even strangers.

A San Fernando Valley couple eventually adopted Olga, but Tony Lara remained on his own.

Immigration law bars granting U.S. citizenship to minors from other countries unless their parents are also seeking citizenship, so Lara was in a bind.

Still, he never missed a day of classes at El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, school officials said, and, as a junior, he won the state wrestling championship in the 98-pound division.

El Camino wrestling Coach Terry Fischer took the teenager in to live with his family in Northridge, even after Lara graduated from high school and went on to business classes at West Valley Occupational Center, an adult trade school operated by the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Lara earned certificates--in data entry, accounting and computer operations--in two years at the center and now does volunteer office work at El Camino Real High.

He’d like to attend college and perhaps earn a physical education degree so that he can coach wrestling.

“All the waiting was getting to the point where I was going crazy,” Lara said. “I was afraid it wasn’t going to happen. This has taken a big, heavy building off my back.”

Lara said that he still can’t believe someone finally agreed to sponsor the residency bill and that he is grateful to Feinstein.

When London agreed to help him seek residency nearly two years ago, Lara accompanied her on a trip to Washington seeking help.

“We knocked on a lot of doors, trying to see who wanted to sponsor me,” Lara said. “A few months later Dianne Feinstein contacted us and said she’d do it. I couldn’t believe it.”

Feinstein apparently was impressed with Lara’s accomplishments, calling him “an inspiration to his community.”

Fischer, Lara’s mentor and father figure, agreed and said his entire family is thrilled that Lara will become a U.S. resident.

“This is beyond belief,” Fischer said. “It hasn’t sunk in yet. We’ve all been waiting so long for this.”