Aliens Seeking Amnesty Rush to Meet Wednesday Deadline

Many said they had been scared. Others didn’t have the money. Still others had problems finding the precious paper work.

And some said they were just natural procrastinators, like taxpayers who habitually file tax returns on April 15.

Whatever their reasons, amnesty applicants turned out in force Monday at immigration offices in San Diego and elsewhere in the country, the realization of a long-predicted last-minute rush to become legal. The one-year application period ends at midnight Wednesday.

“The crush is here,” said Arthur Shanks, legalization coordinator in San Diego for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization service.

Indeed, at San Diego’s legalization office at 3247 Mission Village Drive the line of applicants stretched around the corner Monday afternoon. Officials expected to receive more than 1,200 applications--a single-day record for the facility, but one that may well be eclipsed today and Wednesday.

“It hasn’t reached a crisis,” said Robert L. Coffman, the San Diego office’s affable director, “but the place is full.”

Nerves Were Frayed

Indeed, things seemed to move orderly enough at the office, although frayed nerves were in evidence. Surrounded by dozens of hopeful faces, Edna Gama, a volunteer, helped fill out the forms with machine-gun speed.

“I’m here because I know my people need help,” said Gama, who exuded an air of good-natured competence in dealing with applicants often befuddled by the exasperating application process.

In response to the rush, the INS legalization office in San Diego was slated to stay open today from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m.; the North County facility at 463 North Midway Drive is scheduled to accept applications from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. On Wednesday, both offices are scheduled to remain open until midnight. The applications of eligible foreigners on line as late as midnight Wednesday will be accepted for processing, authorities said.

Since last May 5, when the program began, authorities said, almost 60,000 people have applied for amnesty in San Diego and Imperial counties, not including those from special farm-worker stations at Calexico and Otay Mesa. Authorities here first projected receiving 52,500 applications.

“It’s been tremendously successful,” said the INS’ Shanks of the general amnesty program, which raises the possibility of legal residence for those who have resided in the United States illegally since Jan. 1, 1982.

Not everyone agrees. Critics have charged that thousands of people here are probably going to miss out on the opportunity for a variety of reasons--they were afraid, they were uninformed, they couldn’t get their paper work together or they feared the disquieting prospect of separating their families into those who do qualify and those who don’t. Critics urged an extension, saying the INS failed to get the message out about the program.

Exhorted to File

Congress wasn’t persuaded. Lawmakers last week refuse to prolong the one-year period for the general amnesty program. (Farm workers who qualify under a related program have until Nov. 30 to apply.)

With the deadline imminent, authorities and others exhorted undocumented foreigners to file their applications.

“They’ve got nothing to lose,” said Bishop Leo T. Maher of the San Diego Diocese, whose social-action arm has assisted more than 20,000 would-be amnesty applicants in San Diego and Imperial counties.

Filing with a church-run agency or other INS-designated assistance site, Maher noted, could be to applicants’ advantage: Although applications must be filed by Wednesday, agencies have another two months to collect fees and more documentation.

In response to the last-minute crush, Catholic officials and other agencies assisting immigrants have announced expanded hours this week. The four church-run centers in San Diego County will be open from 8 a.m. until midnight Wednesday. Their addresses are: 4643 Mission Gorge Place in San Diego, 287-9454; 2277 National Avenue, San Diego, 235-6291; 1953 East Valley Parkway, Escondido, 743-2023; and St. Patrick’s Church, 450 Adams St., Carlsbad, 729-2869.

In recent days, the Catholic centers, operating with 30 paid staff members and more than 200 volunteers, reported being swamped with applicants, a situation mirrored at other agencies assisting in the amnesty process.

Mothers With Children

At the INS center on Mission Village Drive, the crush was also much in evidence.

Mothers came with their children. Men brought their wives. Many accompanied friends and others who had been frightened to make the trip here by themselves, fearing apprehension by U.S. authorities. The habit of living in the shadows dies slowly.

Men with deep-lined faces and the tell-tale country hats of farm workers mingled with those in the garb of mechanics, auto workers and other professions.

“I was scared to come before,” said Angelia Ariola, a Mexican citizen who came accompanied by her 17-year-old son, Manuel, who had already received his legal papers.

“With all these people, I think it’s safer,” said Ariola, clutching her paperwork as she stood on line inside the immigration office, examining her fellow applicants, still somewhat wary.

Ariola, who says she entered the United States illegally in 1979, was asked what changes she anticipates as a legal resident. “We will all feel safer, more secure,” she explained. “When one is undocumented, and doesn’t have any English, you feel fear sometimes.”

Standing alongside, Ismael Alarcon, who works for a private immigration agency, was quick to join in the conversation.

“The Mexican works harder than anybody,” said Alarcon, 19, who was recently legalized himself and was now bringing in an envelope filled with applications for his agency’s clients. “We work in the fields, we work for minimum wage, we work for jobs no American wants.”

Attaining legal status, said Alarcon and others, would mean that he and others would no longer have to accept minimum-wage jobs.

“We’ll have more rights; we won’t be treated like animals,” said Santos Beniquez, a 42-year-old father of 7. He has already filed; he said he was at the office to submit applications for his eligible children.