INS Clears Way for Nicaraguan, Cuban Amnesty Seekers

After years of a shadow existence, tens of thousands of illegal immigrants from Nicaragua and Cuba are expected to submit applications beginning next month for a new amnesty approved by Congress in 1997.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service, which issued long-awaited guidelines this week, says it will begin accepting requests on June 22 from eligible Nicaraguans and Cubans for so-called green cards conferring legal permanent resident status.

As many as 150,000 Nicaraguans may apply under the new law, according to community estimates, including both those residing here and spouses, children and others still in Nicaragua.

The largest eligible group is South Florida’s large Nicaraguan exile community, but as many as 20,000 Nicaraguans living in Southern California may also benefit.

“This is a great relief,” said Maria Gutierrez of Los Angeles, a 38-year-old mother of three who said she and her family arrived from Nicaragua in 1989 and have lived here in mostly illegal status since then. “We’ve been living in limbo.”

The 1997 Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act provides amnesty for Nicaraguans and Cubans who have been living continuously in the United States since Dec. 1, 1995. Applicants will have a 21-month period in which to file, from June 22, 1998, to March 31, 2000.

Fewer than 10,000 Cubans are expected to seek relief, because most already have won green cards through previous measures according them favorable treatment.

The law fulfills a promise that President Clinton made during a visit last year to Central America, where leaders feared a mass return of deportees to a region still reeling from the aftermath of Cold War conflict.

However, Congress provided more measured relief for an estimated 350,000 immigrants from El Salvador and Guatemala, who are concentrated in Southern California. Although many Nicaraguans and Cubans were initially welcomed as refugees from Communist states, most Salvadorans and Guatemalans fled U.S.-backed regimes and have long lived under the threat of deportation.

Under the new law, Guatemalans and Salvadorans who were in the United States by 1990 may apply for a waiver of deportation if they can demonstrate that their expulsion would result in “extreme hardship” for them or for legal resident spouses, minor children or parents. Certain Eastern Europeans were given a similar opportunity.

The INS is expected to announce procedures for Salvadorans and Guatemalans this summer. Immigrant advocates have been pressing the agency to design a flexible hardship standard.

“We hope the spirit of generosity that we see given toward Nicaraguans and Cubans permeates the process,” said Angela Kelley of the National Immigration Forum, a pro-immigrant lobbying group.