INS Refuses to Extend Job Deadline

The Immigration and Naturalization Service has rejected pleas by Los Angeles Archbishop Roger Mahony and others to extend a Sept. 1 deadline for many illegal aliens to file work authorization letters with their employers.

Under the nation’s immigration law, virtually all employers must collect identification documents from workers hired since Nov. 6, 1986. However, the government allowed those who have been working at jobs for less than 10 months until Sept. 1 to stay on the job simply by saying they would seek amnesty. After Tuesday, businesses can be fined for hiring illegal aliens.

Mahony, Los Angeles City Council members Richard Alatorre and Gloria Molina and some volunteer groups have expressed concern that enforcement of these employer-sanction provisions will result in widespread layoffs of working illegal aliens.

Mahony said in a letter to immigration service officials that rejecting the plea for an extension “will certainly cut off at the roots an opportunity for numerous undocumented people to legalize themselves, since they will no longer be able to work.”

Volunteer groups have estimated that possibly the majority of working undocumented aliens may be affected by the deadline.

William S. King, Western regional director for immigration reform, said Thursday that the federal agency views the deadline as “analogous to the April 15 tax deadline” in its inviolability. The agency had earlier extended the deadline as the result of a federal court lawsuit. King contended that illegal aliens have had sufficient time to apply to immigration service legalization centers for permits. “They’ve had 5 1/2 months in which to prepare for this,” King said.

At the same time, King said, immigration officials in the Western region have loosened the requirements for issuing work permits. Until two weeks ago, applicants had to produce full documentary proof of continuous residency in the United States since Jan. 1, 1982. Now, applicants will be allowed to present a “checklist” of the documents that they will eventually produce at an interview at an immigration service legalization center.

“We’ve been extending ourselves more than we ever have in the history of the service,” King said. The concession was prompted largely by the volume of applicants in the Los Angeles district, he said.

As of Wednesday, 223,411 people had applied for amnesty in the seven-county district, said District Director Ernest Gustafson. He said the Western region, which includes California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and Guam, has 56% of the nation’s amnesty applicants.

The officials, appearing at a press conference with leaders of the Asian and Pacific communities, said the district has hired 100 new workers to help process applications and is expected to hire 109 more.

Gustafson and King expressed concern about the low numbers of Asians applying for amnesty. As of July 31, 9,362 people from 10 Asian or Pacific nations--or 4% of those eligible to apply in the Los Angeles area--had applied. “I think 10% would have been a more resonable number in the Los Angeles district,” Gustafson said.

Immigration service officials and Asian volunteer groups, including community leaders from Chinese, Korean, Philippine, Japanese and Thai groups, pledged joint efforts to increase Asian and Pacific participation.