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Illegal immigrants feel fear, mistrust
Elliot Spagat
Associated Press
Friday, May 18, 2007
SAN DIEGO - Many illegal immigrants will have to overcome deep-seated fear and distrust of the U.S.
government if they are to take advantage of the proposal to emerge from the shadows offered by Senate
leaders and the White House.
After months of roundups at workplaces and homes, immigrants are now being asked to come forward to
authorities, pay $5,000 in fines and return to their homelands to apply for permanent legal residency.
Cesar Damian Solis, who earns up to $600 a month laying bricks and pipe in Phoenix, thinks most illegal
immigrants would rather have a plan that allows them to remain in the United States while their applications are
processed.
"I want to wait here and I will pay here," said Solis, 22, who left Mexico two years ago. "Sometimes I think the
government is lying. They can say go over there to your country, wait over there. Then they never answer."
Alvaro Tarazona, who lives in Miami, also worries about the prospect of returning home to Venezuela.
"That's one of the main points that immigrants don't trust," said Tarazona, 19, who came to U.S. with his family
when he was 11 years old and overstayed his visa. "Why do they have to go back and how much time?"
Immigration lawyers said it is too early to know how many immigrants will accept the offer to seek citizenship.
The federal government last offered an amnesty program in 1986 to illegal immigrants who had been in the
United States at least four years. An estimated 2.7 million people took advantage of it.
"We've been through this once before in 1986 and everyone came forward — even people who didn't qualify,"
said Carl Shusterman, a Los Angeles immigration attorney. "This is a great benefit and everyone will be trying to
take advantage of it."
The Senate's proposed legislation would allow illegal immigrants who arrived before Jan. 1, 2007 to remain in the
U.S. on probationary status and renew four-year visas. They could eventually get a green card, which could
take at least eight years. Heads of households would have to return to their home countries first.
Dan Kowalski, editor of Bender's Immigration Bulletin, said many immigrants will likely wait to see how friends,
relatives and neighbors fare.
"In 1986, it happened in rolling waves," he said. "Not everyone applied all at once. It took time for people to gain
confidence in the process. I think the same thing will happen here."
If the proposed legislation survives with tougher border enforcement and a crackdown on employers, illegal
immigrants may have less choice than in 1986, Kowalski said.
"Staying underground will be less of an option if you're subject to losing your job or not being able to get a new
job," he said. "Participation may be higher regardless of how much trust there is."
Immigration lawyers said a key unknown is whether the agency handling visa application promises not to share
information with deportation officers. Such a promise was made in 1986.
"No one is going to come forward if they think it may lead to deportation," said Mary Meg McCarthy, a lawyer at
the National Immigrant Justice Center in Chicago.
An immigrant named Juan who works in construction in New Bedford, Mass., said he trusts the U.S.
government to follow through on promises to undocumented workers in any new immigration law. He said it is
far more reliable than the government in his native Guatemala.
But Juan, who spoke on the condition that he be identified only by his first name, said he worries about being
deported because of provisions in the final law that he does not understand.
Juan pays his taxes and hopes that counts for something someday. He said he's "crossing his fingers" for the
chance to work and live in the open, without leaving his wife and young child.
"Now it's like, I'm here, but there's still a door in front of me that can't be opened," Juan said. "There are some
things I'd like to do in this country, but I can't do it."
Immigration advocates are warning against unscrupulous attorneys and public notaries making false promises of
citizenship.
"Anytime there's an announcement like this, notaries tell people to come in and pay, and we'll take care of you,"
said Donald Kerwin, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, which employs about 1,200
attorneys and paralegals. "It's already happening."
Genaro Vicente, 35, a Guatemalan in the U.S. for six years, said it was unfair to make workers return to their
home countries.
"When we're already here, why?" he asked Friday while standing near a Home Depot in Los Angeles. "I don't
trust the politicians to let us back in."
Juan Carlos Vazquez, 40, also from Guatemala, agreed.
"We risked our lives to come here," he said. "We can't go back."
___
Associated Press writers Terry Tang in Phoenix, Laura Wides-Munoz in Miami, Andrew Glazer in Los Angeles
and Jay Lindsay in Boston contributed to this report.
Elliot Spagat
Associated Press
Friday, May 18, 2007
SAN DIEGO - Many illegal immigrants will have to overcome deep-seated fear and distrust of the U.S.
government if they are to take advantage of the proposal to emerge from the shadows offered by Senate
leaders and the White House.
After months of roundups at workplaces and homes, immigrants are now being asked to come forward to
authorities, pay $5,000 in fines and return to their homelands to apply for permanent legal residency.
Cesar Damian Solis, who earns up to $600 a month laying bricks and pipe in Phoenix, thinks most illegal
immigrants would rather have a plan that allows them to remain in the United States while their applications are
processed.
"I want to wait here and I will pay here," said Solis, 22, who left Mexico two years ago. "Sometimes I think the
government is lying. They can say go over there to your country, wait over there. Then they never answer."
Alvaro Tarazona, who lives in Miami, also worries about the prospect of returning home to Venezuela.
"That's one of the main points that immigrants don't trust," said Tarazona, 19, who came to U.S. with his family
when he was 11 years old and overstayed his visa. "Why do they have to go back and how much time?"
Immigration lawyers said it is too early to know how many immigrants will accept the offer to seek citizenship.
The federal government last offered an amnesty program in 1986 to illegal immigrants who had been in the
United States at least four years. An estimated 2.7 million people took advantage of it.
"We've been through this once before in 1986 and everyone came forward — even people who didn't qualify,"
said Carl Shusterman, a Los Angeles immigration attorney. "This is a great benefit and everyone will be trying to
take advantage of it."
The Senate's proposed legislation would allow illegal immigrants who arrived before Jan. 1, 2007 to remain in the
U.S. on probationary status and renew four-year visas. They could eventually get a green card, which could
take at least eight years. Heads of households would have to return to their home countries first.
Dan Kowalski, editor of Bender's Immigration Bulletin, said many immigrants will likely wait to see how friends,
relatives and neighbors fare.
"In 1986, it happened in rolling waves," he said. "Not everyone applied all at once. It took time for people to gain
confidence in the process. I think the same thing will happen here."
If the proposed legislation survives with tougher border enforcement and a crackdown on employers, illegal
immigrants may have less choice than in 1986, Kowalski said.
"Staying underground will be less of an option if you're subject to losing your job or not being able to get a new
job," he said. "Participation may be higher regardless of how much trust there is."
Immigration lawyers said a key unknown is whether the agency handling visa application promises not to share
information with deportation officers. Such a promise was made in 1986.
"No one is going to come forward if they think it may lead to deportation," said Mary Meg McCarthy, a lawyer at
the National Immigrant Justice Center in Chicago.
An immigrant named Juan who works in construction in New Bedford, Mass., said he trusts the U.S.
government to follow through on promises to undocumented workers in any new immigration law. He said it is
far more reliable than the government in his native Guatemala.
But Juan, who spoke on the condition that he be identified only by his first name, said he worries about being
deported because of provisions in the final law that he does not understand.
Juan pays his taxes and hopes that counts for something someday. He said he's "crossing his fingers" for the
chance to work and live in the open, without leaving his wife and young child.
"Now it's like, I'm here, but there's still a door in front of me that can't be opened," Juan said. "There are some
things I'd like to do in this country, but I can't do it."
Immigration advocates are warning against unscrupulous attorneys and public notaries making false promises of
citizenship.
"Anytime there's an announcement like this, notaries tell people to come in and pay, and we'll take care of you,"
said Donald Kerwin, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, which employs about 1,200
attorneys and paralegals. "It's already happening."
Genaro Vicente, 35, a Guatemalan in the U.S. for six years, said it was unfair to make workers return to their
home countries.
"When we're already here, why?" he asked Friday while standing near a Home Depot in Los Angeles. "I don't
trust the politicians to let us back in."
Juan Carlos Vazquez, 40, also from Guatemala, agreed.
"We risked our lives to come here," he said. "We can't go back."
___
Associated Press writers Terry Tang in Phoenix, Laura Wides-Munoz in Miami, Andrew Glazer in Los Angeles
and Jay Lindsay in Boston contributed to this report.
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