SAN FRANCISCO: There are now new programs for illegal aliens to become legal residents of the United States. Aliens who had previously applied but were denied legal residency and farmworker legalization will now get another chance.

Illegal aliens who want to work in farm labor and are able to prove recent farm employment can apply for a new farm worker program from Sept 1 to October 31.

In the Replenishment Agricultural Program, an alien who can prove 90 days of farm labor can apply for legal entry from 1990 to 1993 if there is a farm labor shortage.

According to a Modesto Bee report these programs are not well publicized.

“The word is not getting out on a lot of these programs,” said Ricardo Cordova, an attorney for California Rural Legal Association based in Modesto that helps farm workers.

“This will affect a lot of people locally. It could potentially affect thousands of persons across the nation. But the publicity has been slow and people weren’t aware of it.” Cordova said the Modesto office of CRLA has not received any queries from farm workers about the RAW program. Lee Tarkington Lundrigan, Attomey manager for Growers Harvesting based in Modesto agreed the RAW program has been poorly publicized.

“I think the growers have an awareness of the RAW program, but on the whole, there’s a lot of confusion about it,” she said. “Our organization and the Farm Bureau really tried to promote it.”

Aliens who want to apply for the RAW program must pay a $10 registration fee to the INS. If there is a shortage of agricultural Labor, there will be random selection from those who registered.

Registrants must prove they worked 90 days in farm labor between May 1985 and November 1988. They have to be 18 years old and agree to work in agriculture for a minimum of 90 days per year for the next three years.

But merely registering for the RAW program does not mean an alien gains legal residency, said Loren Montgomery, chief legalization officer for the Stockton office of the INS.

If it is determined that a labor shortage exists, those aliens who paid the $10 fee will randomly be selected to go to work, Montgomery said. If selected, the alien will then be asked to pay another $175 to continue the application.

Montgomery said there already is rampant fraud from unscrupulous people who are offering to preregister for up to $100. And that is a rip off. None of these people are authorized to preregister anyone. It is completely illegal and immoral,” Montgomery said.

Two other programs that will open up avenues for illegal aliens also were publicized by the INS Friday:

* In a recent court case by the United Farm Workers, it was determined that the INS had been too rigid in legalizing farm workers under the Seasonal Agricultural Worker program.

Under the SAW program, anyone who could prove at least 90

days in farm work between May 1985 and May 1986 was invited to apply for legal U.S. residency. The SAW program ended in November 1988.

“Many people were denied at the local level because they couldn’t prove a full 90 days employment, Montgomery said. “They were given until July 19 to file under the UFW case, but that has now been extended until Sept. 15.”

* In another court case it was decided that the INS could not discourage aliens who had been on public assistance from filing for the general amnesty program.

In that program which ended in May 1988 anyone who could prove he or she had lived in the United States illegally for at least five years since before January 1982 could apply for residency. More than a million people came forward, but many were initially discouraged from doing so because they had accepted public assistance either welfare, unemployment or disability payments.

“That was illegal,” a judge has ruled, Montgomery said.

Article extracted from this publication >>  August 25, 1989