Immigrant Aid Resumes a Day After Search

SANTA ANA — With half its computers gone but the number of needy outside its doors as high as ever, a Latino immigrant rights group shut down a day earlier by state and local authorities struggled Wednesday to get back on its feet.

Outside the Santa Ana offices of Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, immigrants seeking help with citizenship and work papers clustered in the rain even before the doors opened. Inside, employees plugged in phones, dug up hard copies of computer files that district attorney’s investigators seized a day earlier, and pulled typewriters out of closets in an effort to get on with their work.

The search of the Hermandad offices on Tuesday followed a monthlong investigation by authorities into allegations of voter fraud and voting by noncitizens in the November election. The investigation was triggered by a complaint by former Rep. Robert K. Dornan, who lost to challenger Loretta Sanchez.

“I’ve heard the news reports about their problems, but they are the only group in Orange County dedicated to helping Latinos,” said Cantida Aburto, a Santa Ana homemaker who was turned away from the Hermandad offices by investigators Tuesday but returned Wednesday for help in getting permanent residency for her family.

In a story typical of those seeking the nonprofit group’s help every day, Aburto said she and her husband have paid $4,000 to outside attorneys who promised to help them with paperwork, but have gotten no results. Now she said another attorney is asking for more money and she needs Hermandad’s assistance.

“We don’t have the money and my husband says we must follow the law,” Aburto said. “I’ve talked to other people who were helped by Hermandad and that’s why I’m here.”

With the customary lines of immigrants crowded into the Hermandad building taking the place of the yellow police tape wrapped around it the day before, Hermandad employees did their best to get back to normal.

Throughout the morning, buses rented by the organization arrived to take dozens of immigrants to the Bellflower offices of the Immigration and Naturalization Service for citizenship interviews.

The interviews had been scheduled to take place at the Hermandad offices in Santa Ana, but were halted by the INS after 19 people told The Times they registered to vote at Hermandad while taking citizenship classes there but before they finished the naturalization process. Most also said they voted before they were sworn in.

“This will slow us down, certainly. Tasks we normally have automated we’ll have to do by hand. We have to be ready to work even longer hours than we used to,” Hermandad spokesman Jay Lindsey said. “But we’re not going to turn anyone away. The community knows that this will blow over. We’re here to stay.”

News of the law enforcement search of Hermandad offices was widely reported in the Spanish language media, but Lindsey said that instead of discouraging immigrants from seeking the organization’s help, the publicity had multiplied the nonprofit’s workload.

While Hermandad employees dealt with clients old and new, other Orange County groups that help immigrants gain citizenship were also handling an unusually high number of requests Wednesday for help.

“There are so many people who need the service, there’s no way Hermandad could handle it even on a normal day, much less today,” said Arturo Montez, president of the Santa Ana chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, a civil rights group.

“I was over at Hermandad this morning to see what we can do. We’ll do whatever we can to help with the backlog.”

Pedro Montalvo was among those outside the Hermandad offices Wednesday. In an alcove huddled against the rain he waited for his sister, who had an appointment inside with an Hermandad counselor.

“I don’t know if [Hermandad] has done anything illegal. A lot of people think that this is all because of politics. You know, they have helped many mexicanos legalize their status. A lot of Anglos don’t like that,” said Montalvo, a construction worker. “I hope that the stories [of alleged wrongdoing] aren’t true.”