INS Raids Latino Group’s Office in Alleged Fraud : Amnesty: Immigration consultant reportedly filed only 17 of nearly 800 applications.

U.S. immigration agents have raided the Las Vegas offices of the president of the nation’s largest Latino civil rights organization as part of an investigation into possible fraud involving amnesty applications from aliens in Southern California, authorities said Tuesday.

Officials for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, who asked that their names not be used, said the investigation centered on allegations that Jose Velez, 53, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), reportedly received about $300,000 for helping in the filing of about 800 amnesty applications.

Velez allegedly turned in only 17 applications to the INS for processing, leaving the rest to collect dust in his immigration consulting office near the Las Vegas Strip, the officials said.

The applications, mostly from aliens of Asian descent, were reportedly given to him by a West Covina woman, Aurora Barrientos, who was interested in seeing these aliens receive amnesty under the historic Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.

Some components of the amnesty program have been plagued by allegations of fraud, but Monday morning’s raids were believed to be the first high-profile attempt uncover fraud affecting Los Angeles applicants.

INS spokeswoman Virginia Kice said the raids were conducted by Los Angeles-based INS agents at Velez’s office and the adjacent Nevada state offices of LULAC.

“I can only say that this is a far-reaching and sensitive investigation into allegations of possible fraud within the legalization program,” Kice said. She declined to elaborate.

Although INS officials would not say what was seized during the three-hour search, Velez said immigration agents took the amnesty files of 14 aliens--all of them from Los Angeles.

Velez, who became national president of LULAC in June, said the raids were politically inspired by the INS, which he said wants to silence him because of his organization’s anti-INS posture.

“The INS is looking for a big story, ‘National president of LULAC indicted,’ ” Velez said when reached at his office Tuesday.

He denied that he was involved in any wrongdoing in his handling of the applications given to him late last year by Barrientos, who operates a bowling alley in San Bernardino.

He said Barrientos gave him only 308 applications and that he was paid only $400 for each processed application. He added that he submitted all but 17 of them that were withheld because of insufficient documentation.

“I have documentation to prove all this,” Velez said.

Barrientos could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Velez also accused INS officials of “Gestapo tactics” by threatening aliens with deportation unless they testified against him.

Told of Velez’s comments, INS spokeswoman Kice said the raids were not politically motivated.

“I don’t think there’s any foundation for that allegation,” she said. “The INS conducts investigations based on the intelligence and data we gather, not politics.”

LULAC, founded in Texas in 1929, is a national Latino civil rights organization that in recent years has been an ardent foe of the INS. It filed a class-action lawsuit two years ago to extend the amnesty deadline for some aliens, contending that the INS summarily rejected the applications from some aliens who were eligible for amnesty.

The group won the right for these aliens to apply under an extended application period and successfully fought off INS attempts several weeks ago to cut off the application period for these aliens.

About 100,000 aliens nationwide are believed to be affected by the LULAC lawsuit.

Velez is considered to be one of the leading immigration consultants in southern Nevada, having handled an estimated 3,000 amnesty applications since 1987.

No stranger to controversy, Velez became president of LULAC last June in a chaotic election during the 100,000-member group’s convention in Albuquerque, N.M. He assumed the LULAC presidency when another candidate dropped out. But opponents claimed his election was invalid since the group’s executive council did not ratify it.

Velez, of Cuban descent, is the first non-Chicano to win the group’s presidency in LULAC’s 61-year history. He soon came under attack for establishing new bank accounts for the group in violation of LULAC procedures.

In 1977, he was the subject of bitter debate within LULAC when he was suspended as the group’s state president for California after he recorded radio commercials for Coors beer at a time when LULAC was boycotting the company.

Sacramento political consultant Arnold Torres said he stepped down as LULAC’s national political adviser after Velez’s election as president because he felt the group would suffer under a Velez presidency. Monday’s events did not change his mind, he said.

“You think I want to work with someone like that?” Torres asked. “No way. It’s a great shame that he has brought down LULAC this way.”

Velez retorted: “There is nothing to defend myself on. I have to consider the source of these comments.”