WASHINGTON — The Clinton Administration is expected to announce today that it will end a special refugee program for Salvadoran immigrants, but will use procedures that make it unlikely any would be deported for at least two years--and perhaps far longer, officials said.
Setting aside the protests of Salvadoran officials and some members of Congress, the Administration will formally end the program that shielded 187,000 Salvadorans from deportation because of the long civil war in the Central American nation, a war that has now ended.
The effect on Salvadorans covered by the temporary program, however, is likely to be gradual, according to an Administration official. The refugees will have nine months from Dec. 31 to apply for formal political asylum permitting them to stay in this country permanently. Within that period they will have the right to continue working.
Because of an overwhelming backlog of earlier asylum applications from many countries, the Salvadoran cases are unlikely to be reviewed for at least two years, according to officials. "With our still focusing on current (applications), it will take years to get through that number," the official said.
The only exceptions are a small number of Salvadorans who have been convicted of aggravated felonies and are not eligible for asylum under any circumstances, according to officials.
An estimated 1 million Salvadoran immigrants live in the United States, about half of whom are legal immigrants. The largest concentration, about 500,000, is in Southern California.
The program's defenders have argued that money sent home by the Salvadorans--estimated to amount to more than $1 billion annually--is essential to maintain the country's economic stability and support its fledgling democratic institutions.
In a meeting Thursday with Vice President Al Gore, Salvadoran President Armando Calderon Sol made a last-ditch plea for the program to be extended.
"I will defend the interests of our compatriots and will ask for an extension," Calderon Sol said as he left San Salvador for Mexico on Wednesday. "What is being sought is a humanitarian solution."
Calderon Sol remained hopeful before the meeting with Gore in Mexico City, where the two leaders were attending the inauguration of Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo.
