Page B8
May 2, 2001
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8
A Last-minute Rush
to Beat Visa Deadline
Immigrants hoping to stay in the coun­
try by saying "I do” before expiration o f
a federal law had a lot o f company a,
mamage bureaus and 1N S offices nation­
wide. Waiting lines clogged corridors
Monday from Albuquerque, where 200
people camped out overnight a, the Im­
migration and Naturalization Service,
to Fort Lauderdale, where marriage bu­
reau workers herded hundreds ofnewly-
weds via walkie-talkies.
As many as 10 times the average
number o f daily applications were being
processed at some INS offices, at least 30
o f which stayed open until the law’s
midnight deadline to sort through paper­
work, The temporary law allowed immi­
grants who are in the country illegally to
apply for legal status — without having
to first return to their homeland— if they
were married to a legal resident orcitizen.
Passed last December in the waning days
o f theClinton presidency, the law briefly
Vence plazo para
situación de los ilegales
*
About 50 people march in downtown Portland on Friday to protest a grand jury's decision to clear police officers o f any criminal wrongdoing in the
shooting o f a Mexican immigrant.
(P hoto by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver )
No Fault Found in Police Shooting
S tory C ontinued F rom F ront P age
fists.W ith five d ep u ties now in ­
volved, d ep u ties p in n ed his legs
b eh in d h im , h eld th em to g e th er
w ith leg irons and h an d cu ffed his
w rists tog eth er behind his back.
A bout a h a lf hour after M ejia
w as released from the ja il, police
found him crying and banging on
th e d o o rs o f the n ea rb y federal
building. A n officer, unable to find
o u t w h a t w a s w ro n g o r w h e re
M ejia lived, to o k him to P ro v i­
dence C risis T riag e C enter, w hich
re fe rre d h im to th e p sy c h ia tric
hospital.
F rid a y , P o rtlan d P o lic e C h ie f
M ark K ro ek er m et w ith m em bers
o f a H ispanic adviso ry council that
advises the police b ureau on H is­
panic A ffairs.
H e said the P ortland o fficer w ho
k illed M ejia w as attem pting to stop
him , not kill him .
“ A s far as 1 know , there w as no
aim ing for the head ," K ro ek er said.
H e said o fficers are trained to
sh o o t at th e “ c ritic a l m a ss,” o r
ab d o m in al part o f the body but that
so m e sh o ts m iss their m ark.
K ro ek er a n d D etective Sgt. John
B rooks, w h o is heading the d ep a rt­
m ental investig atio n into the m a t­
ter, g av e a step -b y -step account o f
w h at hap p en ed , from the tim e M ejia
w as d etain e d after causing a d is­
tu rb an ce o n the bus until the sh o o t­
ing.
K ro ek er said B rooks d id no, a d ­
dress w itn esses reports that M ejia
w as b ea te n w ith a flashlight at the
scen e o f the bus d isturbance, sa y ­
ing that alleg a tio n w as under inter­
nal in v e stig a tio n as a possible use
o f ex c essiv e force.
lifted a requirement that can keep illegal
immigrants who go back home to pursue
residency from re-entering theUSA for 10
years. The INS says as many as 640,000
illegal immigrants wereeligible to pursue
legal status under the provision. The
agency will not know for months how
many applied, but the total for March has
already btokena recordof131,000 legal-
status applicants set in January' 1998,
when a similar immigration measure ex­
pired. "It makes me feel better that I’ve
done the right thing,’ ’ said Brazilian-bom
Vanessa Pereira, 21, married Monday
amid a backdrop o f silk roses at the
Broward County courthouse here. “We
were planning on being married in the
future, but because o f the law, we did it
today.”
Pereira, whohasa2-year-oldtiaugh ter
with her husband, said she was told the
marriage would improve her chances o f
becoming a legal resident
port contained no indication o fb lu n t
force traum a, w hich w ould b e typi­
cal o f such a beating.
K roeker agreed w ith m em bers
o f the council w ho said Portland
n e e d s m o re H isp a n ic S p a n is h ­
speaking officers and said he and
others have been w orking for the
past year to recruit such officers.
“T he results so far are quite disap­
pointing,” he said.
“ It is o f little consolation to any
o f us that the grand ju ry has taken
the position that it did,” K roeker
said. “T he p o lice officers acted
w ith no m alice. T hey did not act in
a w ay o f w anting to take a life.”
T hree officers. — Jeffrey M.
Bell, C hristopher A. D avis an d Jef­
frey E. N elson — w ere placed on
adm inistrative leave follow ing the
shooting. B ell, 25, w ho has been
w ith the departm ent for ju st over a
year, fired the fatal shots.
F am ily m em bers say M ejia su f­
fered from epilepsy but not from
m ental illness.
T he incident that led to the sh o o t­
ing started w ith a report o f a patient
out o f control at Pacific G atew ay.
K roeker said the sta ff asked the
officers w ho initially responded to
leave their guns outside but since it
w as an em erg en cy call they re ­
fused to do so.
T hey ev en tu ally got M ejia to
give up pencils he had been using
to threaten hospital staffers.
A n hour later they got another
call and w ere told M ejia had es­
caped from a locked “quiet room ”
because o f a faulty lock.
T he sta ff, all w om en at that
hour, ask ed the officers to help
them put him back, but they said
that w as not their duty.
Brooks said M ejia briefly trapped
D avis in the “ quiet room ,” leaning
on the door and p unching Bell in
the face. D uring the struggle, Bell
sprayed M ejia w ith p epper spray
w ith no visible effect. A fter M ejia
grabbed a hospital sta ff m em ber,
D avis shot M ejia tw ice with a nonle-
thal “beanbag gun,” but that d id n ’t
stop him. M ejiam eanw hilehadpulled
a m etal bar from the lock m echanism
o f a door and was advancing tow ard
the officers, Brooks said, so Davis
ordered Bell three tim es to “ shoot
him.”
Bell fired twice. The lethal bullet
w as to the head. K roeker said the
issue was not the language barrier,
but said Spanish-speaking officers
w ould have helped the situation. He
also agreed there is a need for better
ties betw een the H ispanic com m u­
nity and police.
He also said further training is
needed to teach officers how to deal
w ith mental disorders and disabilities
such as epilepsy.
He said the police bureau has made
progress in implementing recommen­
dations m ad by the H ispanic advi­
sory group but said w ork rem ains to
be done. He said the bureau would
pay serious attention to their recom ­
m endations.
State mental health officials, mean­
while, pulled the m ental h o sp ital’s
license to operate secure holding
room s in its psychiatric w ards, citing
nearly a dozen conditions they say
threaten the health and safety o f pa­
tients.
The suspension follow ed the res­
ignation o f the hospital’s ch ief ex­
ecutive officer, Karl Brady, am id the
facility’s bid to regain the blessings
o f M ultnom ah C ounty regulators.
State officials also subm itted p list of
corrective actions that m ust be taken
before the hospital can accept new
patients. It includes a requirem ent
that the hospital noti fy the state w hen­
ever police are called to handle un­
ruly patients and a revocation o f
p olicies that allow p olice to bring
their guns into secure units.
P o r J lan C arlos C’ hávez
M iam i - La extensión migratoria de la
Sección 245 (I), que permite a ciertos
extranjeros indocumentados en EE.UU.
legalizar su status de perm anencia,
finalizará hoy en todo el país a la
medianoche en medio de un clima de
protestas y peticiones de último minuto
para que los funcionarios del Gobierno
prorroguen la fecha límite de entrega de
solicitudes.
Sin embargo, nada indica que será
modificado o, en el mejor de los casos,
temporalmente reactivado después de
que el Congreso estadounidense sesi ?nó
en diciembre a petición expresa del
entonces mandatario Bill Clinton y deque
lo hiciera con la condición de no exceder
el plazo fijado del 30 de abril.
La Sección 245 (I) es vista por los
expertos de inmigracióncomo una especie
de miniamnistía, que debería aliviar en
algo la situación legal de miles de perso­
nas que no cuentan con un perm iso de
trabajo, y que por su condición de
indocumentados no tenían derecho a la
protección del Estado.
Según el Portavoz Nacional del INS,
D aniel K ane, la p resen tació n de
fo rm u lario s no sig n ifica que los
so licitan tes n ecesariam en te serán
aceptados. La razón: el peligro oculto de
la norma, que beneficia sólo a los que son
elegibles para una visa de inmigrante.
El proceso demora según numero de
visas disponibles. Y esto podría ser
D os familias unidas
en una sola celebración.
*
VOTE FOR
James Sager
Multnomah County
Commissioner
District 1
Mes De La Hispanidad
A fres h perspective
"A well coordinated, cooperative,
cost effective effort, utilizing the
skills, expertise, and input o f all
county citizens is imperative. ”
Paid for by Committee to Elect James Sager
AMERICAN FAMILY <O >
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Toda La Protección Bajo Un Techo.
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