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Friday, September 17, 1999
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Hispanic leaders air concerns over immigration, education
A group of Nevadans, including one who could face deportation, wants action by federal officials.
By Steve Tetreault
Donrey Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- A group of almost 80 Nevada Hispanic leaders spent all day Thursday trying to press their concerns to federal officials to improve education and immigration services in the state.
Just before the end of a day, they finally caught someone's ear in a dramatic fashion.
At a meeting in the Capitol, the chief deputy to Janet Reno said he will have the attorney general review the case of a Las Vegas cook's helper who faces loss of his work card and potential deportation, caught in a wrinkle of an immigration amnesty program.
The worker, Hilareo Diaz, 34, sat in the audience as friends pleaded his case with the Justice Department executive, Wifredo Ferrer.
"I felt terrible when I heard about him," said Gabriela Mora, who works for a Las Vegas public affairs firm.
"I feel even more terrible as a U.S. citizen that nobody seems to know why this is the law. It's something that doesn't make sense and can't be explained, yet those who implement the law are working within that system," Mora said.
Ferrer finally asked for information on the case and pledged to do what he could.
Malena Burnett, a Las Vegas immigrant advocate, then handed several other cases to Ferrer as the audience broke into applause.
"I think we hit a nerve," Burnett said afterwards. "We've been fighting for this for a year."
Diaz is among roughly 350,000 people nationwide caught in complicated bureaucratic and legal developments following the 1986 passage of legislation granting amnesty to people who had arrived illegally in the United States. Advocates count about 18,000 people affected in Nevada.
The law required immigrants seeking amnesty to certify they had been living in the country since 1982. Thousands have said they missed the deadline, received bad information or were denied certification.
In Nevada, the process was complicated further when authorities discovered that local officials of the League of United Latin American Citizens were filing fraudulent documents with the government on behalf of 22,000 applicants. Nearly 60 people were convicted for immigration fraud.
Class-action lawsuits were filed on behalf of aliens nationwide, but when the dust finally settled on the cases in October, the Immigration and Naturalization Service was given the authority to begin revoking work permits and deporting illegal aliens.
Diaz, who said he arrived from Mexico 14 years ago, filed an appeal for amnesty in 1992 but received a form notice several weeks ago that said he was ineligible. His work card will not be renewed next month, which means he will be out of work and subject to penalty as an illegal.
In the years he waited for some word, he got married, fathered four children, got a job at a major resort and became active in Culinary Local 226.
Lawmakers including Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., have introduced legislation on the matter. The INS has not taken a position on the bill, said congressional liaison Allen Erenbaum.
"There is a great deal of concern about individuals who have spent long periods of time in the United States who have developed roots in communities, and we very much want to try to find a solution," Erenbaum told the Nevadans.
The episode was the climax to the second day of a Hispanic leaders conference organized by Reid's office.
The Nevadans, representing service agencies, schools, organized labor and business, were invited to meet with federal agency executives and senior members of the House and Senate.
Today, bureaucrats from the Small Business Administration and from Health, Labor, Housing and Commerce departments are scheduled to brief the Nevadans on the census and housing matters. Following that, the contingent is to visit the White House and meet with President Clinton's liaisons to Hispanics.
"I want everybody here to feel good about where they're from," Reid said. "I want them to be proud of their heritage. I also want them to understand the federal government is involved in everything they do."
Speakers who were brought in on Thursday fielded questions during sessions that dealt with education, immigration and justice issues.
Sarita Brown, executive director of a White House task force on Hispanic education, told of Clinton administration initiatives on Hispanic education. The visitors noted the Nevada high school dropout rate remains among the highest in the nation.
"This is just not good enough," said Maria Ramirez of Henderson as she held up the task force's 3-year-old report. Not all of its recommendations have been put into effect yet.
"We can't wait four years for action," Ramirez said to applause. "If we wait every four years for reports, we are missing generation after generation. We need legislation, we need legal mandates."
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