Immigration bill may offer hope, but at a cost

Undocumented immigrants in Boston's western suburbs say they are looking at an immigration bill being debated in Congress with a wary eye, excited by the prospect of becoming legal residents but uncertain about whether it will become law and whether they could meet its requirements.

Advocates for the immigrants and immigration lawyers share their concerns about the bill, saying it may not provide the instant path to citizenship for millions that some may envision. Meanwhile, an area resident who has been outspoken against illegal immigration criticized the proposal, saying it would reward people who have broken the law to live and work here.

The bill, which has drawn bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, would allow undocumented immigrants to declare themselves and receive a probationary legal status. If they arrived before Jan. 1, they could then apply for a four-year renewable visa. Families can gain legal permanent residency -- a "green card" -- after eight years if they pay a $5,000 fee and the head of the household returns at least once to their home country.

Undocumented immigrants applying for legal status would not get priority in processing, and legal immigrants with pending cases would not lose their places in line.

The bill, which has been championed by Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy, is expected to be debated in Congress over this week and next, with proponents hoping that some version of the bill is approved by Memorial Day.

The news that Congress is considering an immigration overhaul sent waves through the area, where thousands of immigrants have made their homes in Waltham, Framingham, Milford, and Marlborough, among other communities.

Several undocumented immigrants interviewed recently in Waltham said they had mixed feelings about the proposal.

A 46-year-old mother from Uganda, who spoke only on condition that her name not be used, said she was particularly concerned about the requirement that she return to her home country. She said she feared officials there would refuse to let her in -- or out.

At the same time, she said, she desperately wants to become a legal resident. Until then, she lives in fear of being deported. "Every car you see, you get scared. Are they looking for you? You don't go out in public. There are a lot of people in my situation. A lot," she said in an interview at her home.

Several other immigrants who gathered for an English class recently at the Waltham Alliance to Create Housing offices said they had been following the news about the proposed law, but the reports had left them with many questions they needed answered.

A woman from Argentina, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said she and her family had left their home country after the economy collapsed and she worried about being able to feed her children.

She hopes that her son will be a legal resident by the time he is old enough to go to college.

"I wish with all my heart that all immigrants could get papers, because there's a lot of people I know that get taken advantage of," she said.

Alex Marthews, executive director of the Waltham housing organization, known as WATCH, estimates that about 40 percent of its clients are foreign born, including naturalized citizens and legal and illegal immigrants. He said that many are cautious about the proposal, having seen efforts toward comprehensive immigration reform come to naught last year.

People are "waiting to see what the final provisions are before seeing if they can take advantage of it," he said.

Marthews and his wife are immigrants themselves. Though he came to the United States legally from Great Britain as a graduate student in 1999, the road to citizenship has been a long one. After working on a visa for six years, he finally received a green card in 2005. He and his wife are eager to become citizens, but they won't be eligible to apply until 2011.

"That is part of the reason why there are plenty of people around who are noncitizens. The process is extremely long, extremely complicated, and it is very expensive. We've paid many thousands of dollars over the years and done many boxes of paperwork," said Marthews. "We have been lucky in the process because we both have a lot of highly developed qualifications, and we both speak English, and we both found employers who were willing to sponsor us and assist us through the process."

John Willshire-Carrera, a senior attorney with Greater Boston Legal Services, represents a number of area residents. Many of his clients from Waltham are immigrants who fled the civil wars in Guatemala in the 1980s and early 1990s.

"Generally people who are here are here for a reason. Either they got targeted at home and were persecuted, there's economic upheaval in their country, their communities are falling apart, or they have family members here and they need to be with them," said Willshire-Carrera.

He said most undocumented immigrants would be hard pressed to come up with the $5,000 fee and various other costs, such as for legal filings, translations, and medical exams. But he added that most would be willing to sacrifice heavily to gain citizenship.

"I think people are going to work very hard to get this money. They're going to get more into debt, it's going to create a hardship, but it is a special opportunity," said Willshire-Carrera. "People will do what they have to do, but it's going to be a very heavy burden for a lot of people."

Jim Rizoli, a Framingham resident who has spoken out against illegal immigration, considers the proposal akin to an amnesty for undocumented immigrants, and says it doesn't do enough to screen those already here for criminal backgrounds in their native countries or for communicable diseases, such as tuberculosis.

"This thing has so many loopholes in it, it could never be enforced," said Rizoli. "If the US government just enforced the laws in the beginning, none of this would ever happen."

Susan Cohen, an immigration lawyer at a Boston law firm, represents a wide variety of immigrants -- including those seeking in-demand jobs at high tech companies, applicants for political asylum, and undocumented workers simply trying to gain legal status.

She said the bill is hardly an amnesty plan and poses significant hurdles for immigrants who want to become citizens. In particular, she pointed to the $5,000 fee and the required return to an applicant's home country, saying it could disrupt their work and family life.

"I think there are a lot of punitive aspects in the draft that would make it very difficult, very burdensome and onerous to make legal status," said Cohen. "It's not a panacea -- they have to get to the very back of the line."

Stephanie V. Siek can be reached via e-mail at ssiek@globe.com.