Central Americans Get Advice on Residency

The standing-room crowd was attentive, if perplexed, as the lawyer explained the fine points from an auditorium stage in Los Angeles’ Pico-Union neighborhood.

Begin putting together rent receipts, paycheck stubs, tax returns and other documentation that show how long you have lived here, advised the attorney, Raquel Fonte of the Central American Resource Center.

Do not try to file applications without first consulting with a legitimate legal assistance office. Talk to a qualified advocate before getting married. And don’t feel compelled to rush to file papers--unless you or your children are nearing age 21 or are facing imminent deportation.

“It’s very complicated, but this is what we have been waiting for,” said Paula Hernandez Acosta, a 38-year-old mother of four determined to begin the long-awaited process of gaining permanent legal residence.

She was one of more than 500 Salvadoran and Guatemalan immigrants at the auditorium of the Church of the Immaculate Conception for a charla--or talk--Saturday morning sponsored by the Central American Resource Center in Los Angeles.

The session was one of a number being held across Southern California to inform Central Americans about new federal rules governing their immigration status.

Most attendees fled their homelands during the Cold War-era conflicts of the 1980s and have since put down deep roots here, even as their immigration status remained in limbo. Many have purchased homes, begun businesses and had U.S-born children.

The talk’s topic: the new rules that may allow as many as 500,000 Salvadorans and Guatemalans nationwide--half of them in the Los Angeles area--to attain permanent legal residence status, or green cards. The Clinton administration this month unveiled long-awaited guidelines implementing the 1997 Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act.

But the regulations are complex and have wrought considerable confusion. Part of the difficulty is the uneven treatment of different groups.

Congress granted an outright amnesty to Nicaraguans, who were viewed by lawmakers as having been victims of communism. But Salvadorans and Guatemalans--who fled U.S.-backed regimes--still must clear many legal hurdles.

Among other things, Salvadorans and Guatemalans must prove seven years of continuous residence in the United States and demonstrate that returning home would amount to an “extreme hardship.” Lawyers say such applications can run at least 100 pages, including backup documentation such as sworn statements from applicants, witnesses and others.

Still, many immigrants are eager to plunge forward, to clarify their place in this country.

“Without papers, one feels as though one is always living in the clouds,” said Olga Caceres, 35, who has two American-born children, ages 11 and 7. “For us, now, El Salvador is a place we would love to visit, but we cannot live there.”

Quite a few left behind children who have since become adults in their absence and were cared for by grandparents, aunts and uncles.

“That has been the hardest thing, not seeing my boy grow into manhood, not being there to help him,” said Silvia Esperanza de Paz, whose son, Jonathan Josue, was 4 when she fled in 1984. One day, she hopes to bring him here and unite him with his two American-born siblings, who are 11 and 6.

Various immigrant advocacy organizations are holding neighborhood meetings like this to provide guidance--and prevent panic. Most applicants face no deadline, so they are being advised to take time to gather their paperwork.

A major exception are applicants with sons and daughters nearing age 21. Those children may become illegal immigrants if they get married, or if their parents fail to complete the process before children turn 21.

With so many questions--and a paucity of qualified legal assistance--it is inevitable that many applicants will seek help from unreliable sources. Advocates warn that unscrupulous lawyers, storefront consultants and notaries public charge high fees and guarantee results. After the almost two-hour presentation on Saturday, audience members approached the stage with individual questions. Several who had not filed tax returns in recent years were urged to do so. Others were told to seek letters from former employers, landlords and clergy attesting to their law-abiding nature and longtime presence in the United States.