Momentum Builds for Immigration Amnesty Program

The nation’s immigration amnesty program, which got off to a slow start in its first three months because of a low turnout among illegal aliens, has gained momentum in recent weeks as volunteer agencies working with the program are processing increasing numbers of immigrants.

Representatives of some of the largest of the 800 volunteer groups helping to register immigrants in the yearlong program said that the recent growth in amnesty filings has been small but indicates that their organizations--called “qualified designated entities”--are finally taking a larger role in the amnesty process.

In Los Angeles, Catholic Charities, the largest volunteer amnesty processing operation in the country, had submitted only 100 cases to Immigration and Naturalization Service legalization offices by the end of June. By last week, the number had jumped to 1,000.

Other Cities Report Increase

Similar increases were reported in other major cities. Catholic Charities officials in Denver said that their amnesty applications are now being filed at a rate of 80 a week, four times as many as two weeks ago. In Chicago, federal immigration officials have also seen small upswings in volunteer agency filings. In New York, the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union immigration project expects to clear a 2,000-case backlog by the end of the summer.

The increased numbers have appeared as relations improve between the volunteer groups and the INS, which is administering the amnesty program. The backlogs at Catholic Charities and other volunteer groups had been a continuing source of tension, with volunteer groups claiming that amnesty cases were taking hours to process and that the INS was unwilling to provide clear guidelines on the amount of documentation required.

In turn, the INS complained that the volunteer groups were caught unprepared and held back cases to pressure changes in agency immigration policies.

Despite its backlog of more than 300,000 cases, Catholic Charities officials in Los Angeles predict that they will file 1,500 to 2,000 cases a week by the end of August and eventually as many as 1,500 cases a day.

“Things are picking up quite substantially,” said Gil Carrasco, associate director of immigration and refugee services for the U.S. Catholic Conference. “We’re feeling a little more comfortable with our numbers, and I would hope that the INS is too.”

Still Moving Too Slowly

Although INS officials said they are heartened by such increases, they contend that the program is still moving too slowly. Differences still exist between the agency and the volunteer groups, particularly over how to handle cases of families that may be split up by the amnesty program. Volunteer groups also fear that thousands of illegal aliens could lose their jobs this fall unless the INS extends a Sept. 1 deadline for newly hired workers to apply for amnesty.

“It would be nice to say that all our problems are over,” INS National Legalization Director William S. Slattery said. “We’re encouraged by the attitude of the agencies and some of the latest trends, but the numbers haven’t gone high enough yet to make us breathe any easier.”

INS officials had once predicted that 70% to 80% of the amnesty applications would come from the volunteer groups. But by the end of June, the organizations had only provided 7.9% of all applications.

Even after the latest surge, the INS said, volunteer agencies accounted for only slightly more than 10% of the 330,000 applications filed throughout the nation by last week. The rest of the applications have been filed directly with INS legalization offices.

William King, director of immigration reform for the INS’ Western region, said the agency now expects that the volunteer groups will account for only 40% to 50% of all applications filed by next May, the end of the yearlong amnesty period.

INS officials had predicted that as many as 3.9 million illegal aliens might qualify for amnesty in that period but now expect only 2 million illegal aliens to qualify. They said they have the capacity to legalize up to 3.9 million.

A month ago, INS officials were so alarmed by the slow pace of applications coming from volunteer agencies that they threatened to bypass the agencies altogether and encourage immigrants to apply directly to them. Immigration officials are pessimistic that large volunteer efforts, such as the Catholic Charities program in Los Angeles, will completely catch up on its backlog of 316,000 cases by the end of the amnesty program.

‘More Cooperation’

But Slattery and other INS officials, expecting a new wave of amnesty applications in August, have retreated from the threats of a month ago, conceding that “we’re seeing more cooperation.”

Representatives of volunteer groups said the INS has also shown more cooperation in recent weeks. The situation has eased, volunteer groups said, because INS officials are now willing to give them specific information on the types and amount of required documents. In Denver, for example, INS officials worked out an arrangement with volunteer groups so that they need only provide evidence every three months of an illegal alien’s stay in the United States.

“That kind of specific information is crucial for us,” said David Moore, director of Catholic Charities’ legalization program in Denver. “It gives us guidelines that we didn’t have a few weeks ago. Now we don’t have to worry about documenting every aspect of an applicant’s life.”

As a result of similar changes here--and the hiring of 110 new processors in recent weeks--Catholic Charities’ amnesty program in Los Angeles expects to file all of its 316,000 backlogged cases by next April.

‘Processing Cases’

“We expect to be at full speed in another month,” said Robert Chandler, a consultant with Catholic Charities. “We’re now operating 14 hours a day, interviewing and processing cases, and we’re opening up sites for weekend interviews.”

Catholic Charities officials in several cities said that the INS also helped ease their backlogs by giving them a 60-day grace period in which volunteer groups will be able to forward cases to the INS without worrying that they will be denied for lack of adequate documents. Any cases sent in during this period, which ends Aug. 16, that do not have sufficient documents will simply be turned back to the agencies for more work.

Volunteer groups hope that the INS will be equally responsive in extending the September deadline under which newly hired workers must apply for amnesty. As part of the employer sanctions provision of the immigration law, illegal aliens who were hired since last Nov. 6 (the day the law went into effect) were given until Sept. 1 to file for amnesty. Those who have not filed by that date risk being fired by their employers.

New Applications

In Los Angeles, for example, the deadline could pose severe problems for Catholic Charities. With its 316,000-case backlog, only several thousand new amnesty applications will have been filed by September. That could jeopardize the jobs of at least hundreds and perhaps thousands of newly hired workers whose cases will be filed after the deadline.

“We’ve expressed our concerns to the INS and Congress,” said Carrasco of the U.S. Catholic Conference. “We’d like to see some kind of extension or else a waiver for people who have already applied to volunteer agencies.”

Slattery and other INS officials said they do not foresee any extension or changes in the September deadline.

“We haven’t heard any consensus to extend the deadline,” Slattery said.

He added that volunteer agencies with large caseloads could tell newly hired workers to apply directly to the INS in the next month or else transfer those cases to volunteer agencies that have no amnesty backlogs.

Centers Closed

Some agencies are being forced to shut down because of a lack of amnesty cases, Slattery said. In New York, he reported, the Congress of Racial Equality closed four of its five amnesty centers recently because they were not doing enough business.

“There are obviously plenty of volunteer agencies out there which would be more than happy to pick up the slack,” he said.