Thief Got His Green Card and He Got Mountain of Red Tape

Although Tony Vella has never given up his Maltese citizenship, his life as a U.S. resident had been moving along as routinely as any American’s with a mix of events--combat service in Vietnam, a marriage, the birth of a son and even a job layoff.

Then, a month ago, Vella took his wife, Billie, and their 2-year-old son, Joseph, for a walk along the water’s edge at Redondo Beach. When they returned to the beach for their clothes, Vella discovered that he had lost his wallet to a thief.

Since then, Vella’s ordered life has taken a Kafkaesque tilt. Employers tell him that they are unable to hire him because he lacks the right papers. Government officials regret to inform him that it may be months before he can get the right papers. He has stood in line after line, sleeping outside one government office for hours one night in a lawn chair, waiting for a ticket to get into yet another line.

Inside Vella’s stolen wallet were his Social Security card and his “green card,” the alien identification card that allowed him to work in the United States, first as an auto worker in Detroit and later as a machinist at Rockwell International’s B-1 bomber construction plant in El Segundo.

Vella was not immediately concerned. Although he recently had been laid off from his machinist’s job, he figured that he could easily find new work. If employers wanted proof of his 36 years as a U.S. resident, Vella would show them his honorable discharge, as he had done in the past. If they needed more convincing, the 37-year-old former infantryman could point to the Bronze Star and other medals that he won under fire in Vietnam.

Proof Needed

But Vella soon learned that his discharge papers are no longer adequate. Under the nation’s new immigration law, employers have been required since July 1 to demand proof of residency from prospective employees. In Vella’s case, that means either the Social Security card or the green card.

“I must’ve applied to a dozen different places,” Vella said. “Every one was the same answer. Without either of those cards, they didn’t want anything to do with me.”

A month later, Vella is no closer to finding a new job. He has already depleted half his family’s savings, and he has no idea when he might work again. Social Security officials told him that they cannot provide him with a new card until he shows them a green card. And federal immigration officials say that there is at least a two-month wait for a replacement card--assuming they can even find the old files that prove Vella once possessed a green card.

“I can’t understand it,” Vella said. “It seems like I should be able to get something to allow me to work.”

An Immigration and Naturalization Service spokesman said that Vella’s case is at the bottom of a 1,100-case backlog in their Los Angeles district. In each case, applicants are trying to obtain replacements for lost or stolen green cards.

“We sympathize with his predicament,” said Joe Flanders, the spokesman. “But we have to be fair and equitable to the people who are ahead of him in line. We can’t simply jump him over those people.”

Because of the new amnesty law, it is harder for Vella, a long-time U.S. resident, to obtain work identity papers than it is for illegal aliens who are applying under the law. Aliens who apply for amnesty are immediately given a temporary employment authorization that allows them to continue working or to find new a new job.

“I may not be a citizen, but you’d think I’d at least get the same help as people who came here recently,” Vella said.

Could Return

Vella, whose family brought him to New York when he was an infant, said he maintained his Maltese citizenship all these years because he worried that if work ever became difficult to find in the United States, he could always return to Malta. Now, that very decision is preventing him from finding work.

Immigration officials told Vella that while he waits for his green card, he could apply for a temporary card that could be acceptable to employers. But because all of his original immigration documents are in New York--and too ancient to be stored in the agency’s 6-year-old computer files--it could take months just to verify that he is eligible even for a temporary card.

Trying to speed up the process, Vella contacted the offices of Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) and Rep. Mel Levine (D-Santa Monica). But even though a helpful Levine aide referred the case to Vella’s local congressman, Rep. Daniel Lungren (R-Long Beach), it appears doubtful that intervention will do much good.

“We get letters from congressmen every day,” Flanders said. “But they don’t get any more attention than regular requests get. Our people are flooded with work.”

Lead to Fines

Employers such as the Volt Temporary Services in Torrance, where Vella applied unsuccessfully for work, worry that if they were to take on a worker like Vella, they could be subject to INS sanctions, which could eventually lead to fines or imprisonment.

Flanders suggested one way out, saying that the agency would probably not file sanctions against any employer who hired Vella as long as Vella showed them an INS receipt for his application for a new green card, along with his discharge papers and other identity documents.

Mary Smith, Volt’s regional vice president, said she can only go by the INS’ written guidelines.

“We have to turn away anyone that doesn’t exactly fit their (the INS) requirements,” she said.

Vella passes the time in his San Pedro apartment playing with his son, while he phones congressional offices and government agencies. He has stopped looking for work until he has a new green card and worries that he might not qualify for unemployment insurance.

“This is incredibly frustrating,” he said. “The last thing I want to do is avoid work. I’ve paid my taxes. I’ve paid into Social Security for 20 years. Something has to give.”