Immigration frustration: Reid bill could legalize thousands in Nevada

Friday, Aug. 10, 2001 | 11:15 a.m.

Even though her four children were born in Las Vegas, 36-year-old Gloria Frayre is under a court order to leave the country.

For the past four years the Mexico native has been appealing the order, but she lives in fear of having to leave her adopted country, where she has found work as a waitress at the Plaza hotel-casino.

"I wake up every morning thinking that this could be the day when I get the order to go. I've spent half of my life here, my friends are here, my children are American.

"I'd give anything to become a citizen ... then I could vote and feel like a part of this country, not just a pair of hands that works here."

Frayre, a North Las Vegas resident for 11 years and a Texas resident for 10 years before that, is one of more than 30,000 undocumented immigrants in Nevada who could benefit from a bill in Congress introduced by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

The bill could allow nearly 500,000 undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States before 1986 to apply for permanent residency. Currently, immigration law says certain people who arrived illegally in the country may apply for permanent residency only if they have lived in the United States since before 1972.

Frayre came to the United States from Juarez, Mexico, in 1980 as a teenager. She said that her studies in a technical school in Mexico helped her little, since the best jobs went to wealthy people with the most contacts.

So she crossed the border to Texas and came to North Las Vegas in 1990, where she got work at the Plaza. She has since moved up from busperson to waitress, using a series of temporary work permits, the latest of which the Immigration and Naturalization Service granted her in January.

She's also had four children, now ages 3 to 11, who she says mostly speak English.

She and her husband, Benito, have spent more than a decade trying to understand one law or another to become residents and then citizens. This includes having papers filled out by a woman who was later convicted of fraud, resulting in four years of prison for the woman and the loss of work permits for hundreds of immigrants, including Frayre.

After losing her work permit in 1997, Frayre decided to take her chances in U.S. Immigration Court. But the judge ordered that she leave the United States within 60 days.

Julia Osborne, Frayre's attorney, said that with no changes in the law, Frayre has about a 20 percent chance of being allowed to stay. But under Reid's bill, Osborne said, Frayre's chances of staying would improve to nearly 100 percent.

Known as the Working Families Registry Act, Reid's is the only bill to come from Nevada's congressional delegation on the controversial subject of immigration.

Reform of immigration laws is being debated. Both political parties have suggested numerous policy changes. Even President Bush has commented, suggesting legalizing millions of undocumented immigrants regardless of when they arrived.

Reid's bill would change what is called registry, a figure that has been in U.S. immigration law since 1929. It sets a date by which immigrants who have continuously lived in the United States can become "permanent residents," a legal status just short of citizenship.

The registry date has been updated six times in seven decades, but it has not been revised since 1986. It is currently set at 1972. Reid's bill would change it to 1986.

If the bill is passed, people who can prove they have lived in the country every year since that date, have not broken certain laws and are of good moral character, can apply for permanent residence.

When the 107th Congress reconvenes after the summer break, Reid's bill will be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Staffers at Reid's Washington office said as many as 30,000 of the total undocumented immigrant population in Nevada -- estimates range from 60,000 to 125,000 -- may benefit if it is passed into law.

Local immigration lawyers had more conservative estimates on the number of immigrants eligible for residency under the bill. Don Chairez, a former District Court judge and now in practice as an immigration lawyer, said the effect would be minimal, affecting about 1 percent of his 150 clients.

Osborne said it may cover up to 10 percent of her clients, who she says total about 100 a month.

Peter Ashman, chairman of the Nevada chapter of the American Immigrant Lawyers Association, said the bill "would accomplish the same thing as an amnesty, but in more politically acceptable terms."

Angela Kelley, deputy director of the National Immigration Forum, a Washington-based immigrant rights group, said her group estimates that 440,000 of the nation's 6 million to 8 million undocumented immigrants could be affected by Reid's bill.

Democratic leaders have announced a four-point proposal to be considered in Bush's plans for immigrants, likely to be announced during Mexico President Vicente Fox's September visit to Washington.

The Democrats want to include immigrants from all countries in a platform that includes expanding immigration to unify families, adjusting the status of undocumented workers, enhancing the program for so-called temporary workers, and allowing greater freedom of movement to and from home countries.

The intent of Reid's bill may wind up getting included in legislation to come out of the Democratic platform, the senator said.

For Reid, his bill represents a change of heart since 1993, when he sponsored two bills to protect American workers from competition and relieve pressure on public services by tightening U.S borders.

A section of one bill proposed that children of illegal immigrants should not be eligible for citizenship.

"I held some meetings with people afterward, and realized I was heading down the wrong road," Reid said.

"Then one day I went to a community center in Las Vegas and a crowd was protesting because they had been cheated by someone who was going to fill out their immigration papers.

"They had incredible stories, with jobs here, children born here, family members being deported. I was converted to what I am now -- an evangelist for immigration policy reform."