Amnesty Provision Prompts New Cautions

With a little-known provision of the landmark amnesty program for illegal aliens now taking effect, law enforcement authorities and immigrant rights groups are warning applicants hoping for a last chance at legal status to watch for unscrupulous consultants.

“It is simply so important that the immigrant community be educated so that they can be responsible consumers,” said Father Jaime Soto, the Diocese of Orange episcopal vicar for Latinos, at a news conference Tuesday in Santa Ana. “Please, inform yourselves well.”

What has Soto and other members of the Orange County Immigration Fraud Task Force worried is the Replenishment Agricultural Worker program, or RAW, which over the next three years could legalize thousands more agricultural workers--or none at all.

The RAW program is part of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, which has legalized 184,000 immigrants in Orange County. The program specifies that the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service can grant temporary resident status to agricultural workers, should federal officials determine that there is a shortage of such workers.

Decision Due on Oct. 1

On Oct. 1, the U.S. secretaries of labor and of agriculture will decide whether there is such a shortage, said Bill King, director for legalization for the INS Western Region.

If the officials decide that there is a shortage, RAW applicants selected at random by a computer will be invited to participate in the program, which could lead them to permanent residency status at the program’s conclusion.

The INS began accepting applications for the drawing Sept. 1, and more than 6,000 in California were turned in on the program’s first day. The registration period ends Nov. 30.

A worker selected through the program must pay a $175 fee and be interviewed by an immigration official, who will determine whether he or she is eligible.

The registration form is a simple card that requests basic information such as name, address and birth date. No supporting documentation is required, but applicants must attest that they have performed at least 20 days of agricultural labor during a 12-month period between May 1, 1985, and Nov. 30, 1988, and be otherwise admissible as legal residents. Applicants must also agree to do seasonal agricultural work for at least 90 days during each of the next three years if selected as part of the RAW program.

Priority Consideration

Illegal aliens already in the United States and those with immediate family members who qualified for amnesty under other provisions of the law would be considered first should there be a computer drawing, King said.

King said, however, that some self-proclaimed “immigration consultants” are charging hundreds of dollars to help applicants fill out the simple cards, often with the promise that the consultant can improve the applicant’s chances of being selected.

“There is one outfit in Paterson, N.J., charging $6,000,” King said. So far, there have been no reports of fraud in Orange County, but authorities expect that the same businesses that tried to cash in on other amnesty programs will seek to capitalize on this one as well.

“For anyone outside now to be saying that ‘We can guarantee for X number of dollars you can be chosen,’ that’s an out-and-out lie,” King said.

Don Balcer, a U.S. Department of Labor regional administrator in San Francisco, said the agency has “not detected any major shortages in California” so far.

Future Shortages Possible

“There might be some spot shortages,” Balcer said, “but up to now, there have not been any major shortages anywhere.”

Such shortages could occur in future years, however, as agricultural workers who have been legalized under other provisions of the amnesty law leave agriculture for easier, more lucrative jobs.

“We won’t know . . . until we’ve had a few years under our belt” with the program, Balcer said.

If a shortage develops anytime during the next three years, King said, immigration officials will draw upon the pool of registrants to be created in the next three months to fill the void.