Hispanic newspapers keep readers aware of deadline

Friday, April 27, 2001 | 4:34 a.m.

If law offices, paralegals, pastors and the Immigration and Naturalization Service have been kept busy by the law known as "245-I," Las Vegas' Hispanic media haven't been far behind.

The city's three Spanish-language newspapers have been keenly aware of the law's approaching deadline -- Monday -- and have been making special efforts to inform readers.

"The response has been incredible," Frank Corro, El Mundo editor, said. "This has been like a town fair here, with readers calling and writing in," he said. Now in its 21st year, El Mundo is the oldest of the three newspapers serving the Hispanic community, which the 2000 Census places at 300,000 people.

Dozens of lawyers' ads in these publications invite area immigrants to legalize their status. But editorials and legal-advice columns such as "Preguntele a Julia," or "Ask Julia," have also been trying to meet the Hispanic community's demand for accurate information about 245-I.

"A lot of our readers have shown interest in this law," Alvaro Villagran, El Heraldo publisher, said. A weekly, El Heraldo is the only bilingual newspaper of the three. "But there's also a lot of confusion," Villagran said.

"Many area Hispanics are being swindled by offices that aren't licensed to practice law, and we've run several recent editorials on the matter," he said.

Carlo Moffat, El Tiempo Libre publisher, has taken a similar stance. "We've been referring our readers to official sources of information and telling them to avoid offers of help from elsewhere," he said.

El Tiempo Libre has also given ample coverage to events such as what Moffat described as a town hall-type meeting several weeks ago. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., INS officials, lawyers and local Hispanic groups were on hand to answer questions.

"With about 500 members of the public present, this was a big event for our paper," Moffat said. "We hadn't seen so many Hispanics in one place since Cinco de Mayo," he said, referring to the Mexican holiday.

Corro said the recent surge in marriages by Hispanic immigrants to U.S. citizens would be sustained if only there was more time. "There would be a lot more people trying to take advantage of this law if only they could put together the $1,000 you have to pay INS," he said.

He also said the two bills before Congress to extend 245-I's deadline will be an important story for the three newspapers in the weeks to come.