$5,000 in Amnesty Fees Vanish at Santa Ana INS Office

Federal authorities are investigating the disappearance of about $5,000 in amnesty application fees from the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s office in Santa Ana.

Although the checks vanished after they were submitted to the INS, the disappearance is delaying the processing of about 30 applications for amnesty.

George Newland, director of the Santa Ana office, said the INS’ Office of Professional Responsibility and the U.S. attorney’s office are investigating, and that they have a suspect.

“It’s all over with except for the final arrest and going to court,” Newland said.

Blanks on Checks

The checks apparently were not filled out completely when they were submitted with the legalization applications. In some cases, an INS official said, applicants left blank the designee; in other cases, they may have written only “INS,” enabling a thief to fill in a last name, such as Smith, the source said.

Amnesty applicants under the landmark 1986 immigration bill must pay fees of $185 per adult and $50 per child, with a maximum of $420 per family, when they submit their application packages. Illegal aliens who have lived in the United States continuously since Jan. 1, 1982, and some farm workers who have lived here a shorter time, are eligible for temporary resident status and eventually for citizenship under the legalization program.

While the stolen checks represent a tiny fraction of the approximately 29,000 applications the Santa Ana office has processed since the amnesty program began last May, INS Western Regional Commissioner Harold Ezell said he is concerned that similar thefts may have occurred at other offices.

“If someone has filed their application . . . but has never heard back from us, we need to hear about it,” Ezell said. “You never know how much has happened. Fortunately, we found out about Santa Ana.”

The region’s legalization offices, including three in Orange County, have tightened procedures since the theft was discovered, Ezell said. “We feel that internally we’ve made the adjustments.”

Ezell said the “real victims” of the thefts are the taxpayers, who will absorb the cost if the money isn’t recovered. The thefts won’t jeopardize the applicants’ chances for amnesty, he said.

But members of Orange County immigration rights groups said they are concerned that the investigation is unnecessarily delaying innocent applicants’ receipt of work authorization and legal status.

“All they are getting are verbal assurances that everything will be OK,” said Robin Blackwell, coordinator of the Orange County Coalition for Immigrant Rights. “We’re requesting written assurances that their cases will not be jeopardized.”

Santa Ana office director Newland said there was nothing he could do to speed up the process. “I’ve got these people who want to be processed, but the U.S. attorney had to use them (their files),” he said. “When I get them back, I’ll process the people.”

The Garcia family of North Lacy Street in Santa Ana is among those whose applications have been held up because of the check scandal.

Sonia Garcia, 35, said she submitted applications for herself; her husband, Jose Luis Garcia, and two of their three children, on Oct. 13 last year. But she never received an interview date, and, when she inquired, was told that her application was missing the $420 fee.

Sister Carmen Sarati, who helped the Garcias file their applications, now had to help them trace their check, which Sonia Garcia had purchased at the Bank of America branch on North Main Street.

The search showed that it had been deposited in an INS bank account, but, according to codes written on the back of the check, it had been credited to an application of a family of five. That family’s check was probably stolen and the Garcias’ check substituted, Sarati said INS officials told her.

Meanwhile, while relatives and friends who also applied for amnesty are on their way to obtaining legal resident status, the Garcias wonder how much longer they will have to wait.

Sonia Garcia said she would like to visit her family in Mexicali but cannot do so until the matter is resolved without jeopardizing her case. Still, she is hopeful: “I think everything will be all right, eventually.”