NEW WAVE OF SALVADORAN IMMIGRANTS REVIVES CALL FOR REFUGEE STATUS

The Salvadoran Refugee Committee, which used to provide food baskets to immigrant families in the Washington area every two weeks, has begun handing out food packages every weekend. Only now, the number of needy recipients has grown from 25 families to 70, with 200 more on a waiting list.

On a recent morning, the committee's Columbia Road NW office was jammed with nearly a dozen newly arrived immigrants, most of them Salvadoran men, all looking for work.

The food and job lines at that center and others are the most obvious indications of an immigrant community living on the edge, according to refugee assistance groups. And, despite tougher employment restrictions, hundreds of undocumented workers are still entering the United States -- and many of those, especially Salvadorans, are making their way to Washington.

"In the last five months, the war and human rights violations in El Salvador have caused this new flow of refugees," said Carmen Monico, national coordinator of the Central American Refugee Committees network. "And they will keep coming until there is peace."

Yesterday, in an attempt to hurry that process, Monico and other refugees and refugee rights groups here and around the country began a Fast for Peace aimed at stopping U.S. military aid to El Salvador. The fasters also hope to win political refugee status for illegal Salvadoran immigrants, who could then live and work in the United States legally, and to dramatize the circumstances of Salvadoran immigrants. The Salvadoran immigrant population is estimated at more than 800,000 nationwide, including about 150,000 in the Washington area.

"More than $3 billion has gone to El Salvador, and most of that money has gone to aid the war effort," Juan Romagoza, a doctor who runs the Clinica del Pueblo in the city's Hispanic community, said at a news conference at St. John's Episcopal Church. "The fast constitutes a cry -- a cry to the conscience of the American people."

U.S. immigration officials have disputed the claim that the number of Salvadorans entering the country is on the increase and contend that the fasters want to make a broader political statement about U.S. support for the Salvadoran government.

A core group of about 40 Salvadorans and their supporters in Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Houston is expected to fast for at least 10 days on juice and water only, according to fast organizers, with each day representing one-tenth of the 10-year war in El Salvador. In addition, others, including several church congregations, plan to fast one day or longer in sympathy with the protest.

Yesterday's news conference, which was held at St. John's because President Bush often attends services there, included, among others, homeless rights activist Mitch Snyder, Vietnam veteran Charles Liteky and Sylvia Rosales, executive director of the Central American Refugee Center. And former Montgomery County executive Charles Gilchrist, now in his last year studying for the Episcopal priesthood, joined fasters and their supporters in a march to the Capitol for a prayer service.

Employer sanctions against hiring illegal immigrants, part of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, have not stemmed the flow of Central American refugees, according to refugee groups. But they have made it tougher for them to live here.

One faster, Marina Blanco, 30, a Salvadoran who entered the country illegally three years ago, said relatives who arrived in Washington last month had trouble finding work. When they finally did land jobs, she said, they were as painter assistants -- at $10 a day.

"Employers just pay what they want," Blanco said.

The fast began yesterday to mark the ninth anniversary of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero's letter to President Jimmy Carter asking him to stop military aid to the country. A month later, Romero was killed by a gunman while saying mass.

"There has been a flow of refugees from there because of the war and government repression," said Danny Katz, a spokesman for the Central American Refugee Center. "We're in a crisis situation in two places."

Duke Austin, an Immigration and Naturalization Service spokesman, said the immigration law has reduced dramatically the number of illegal immigrants trying to enter the country. He said there had been a 40 percent decrease in apprehensions of illegal immigrants, and tens of thousands already here have applied to INS for asylum and work authorizations.

"There hasn't been an increase in Salvadorans coming into the country," Austin said. " {Protest organizers} want to talk about U.S. support in El Salvador and to make a political statement."

Refugee advocates said the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador recently reported that illegal immigration has risen back to 1984-1986 levels. They do concede, however, that the employment sanctions have caused more illegal immigrants to file for political asylum -- so that they can get temporary work permits while their applications are being processed.

Boris Canjura, coordinator of the Salvadoran Refugee Committee, said refugee workers in Miami, who primarily help Nicaraguans, have begun sending Salvadoran refugees to Washington, because of its large Salvadoran population. This, in turn, has further stretched local resources.

"The economy and war situation is so bad, there is a desperation to leave the country," said Canjura, who recently returned from a visit to El Salvador. "You never know when you'll get a bullet."

Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.