🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <020560JTKKTAIGVVCLMO@mowbbs.uucp.netcom.com>,
flinn@mowbbs.uucp.netcom.com wrote:

> also she didn't hire any illegals, this Guatemalan woman
> she hired has papers,
 
Afterfirst saying she did, and then saying she didn't; the INS finally
confirmed that Feinstein did, in fact, hire an illegal alien. Please see
the below article 11/5/94 San Francisco Free Press.

_____________________________
INS changes its mind again on Feinstein housekeeper
Agency says Guatemalan woman was an undocumented immigrant after all
By Pamela Burdman and Susan Yoachum Special to The Free Press

 SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 5, 1994 -- The Immigration and Naturalization Service
late Friday confirmed that a woman who worked for Senator Dianne Feinstein
in the early 1980's was in the country illegally at the time.

 The confirmation came after 48 hours of official confusion in which the
INS first said that a Guatemalan woman presumed to be the housekeeper was
not a legal resident at the time in question, then claimed that the
undocumented woman was not Feinstein's housekeeper.

But after further investigation, the INS concluded Friday that Annabella
del Rosario Realegeno had worked for Feinstein after her visa expired in
1980. The disclosure was contrary to Feinstein's earlier assertion that
she had "never employed anyone who was illegal or undocumented."

Coming four days before the election, the revelation jolted an already
combative and costly race for the U.S. Senate between Feinstein and
Republican challenger Michael Huffington. The illegal immigration issue
exploded in the campaign last week when it was reported that Huffington
had employed an illegal immigrant nanny.

Despite the confusion surrounding the legal status of Feinstein's
housekeeper, it was clear that, unlike Huffington, Feinstein did not
violate a federal law against hiring illegal immigrants because it was not
enacted until 1986.

The Free Press reported Thursday morning that the worker had been
undocumented, a conclusion based on an interview with an INS official in
Washington. Late Thursday, the INS claimed that the woman mentioned in the
story was not Feinstein's housekeeper and that there may have been a case
of mistaken identity.

But late Friday, after repeated inquiries from reporters, INS officials
said that Realegeno had been ordered deported during the 1970's and had an
expired visa at the time she worked for Feinstein in the early 1980's.

 The housekeeper's visa was only valid from November 1979 to November 1980
and only allowed her to work for the Guatemalan consulate, said INS deputy
regional director Michael H. Flynn.

But because the housekeeper has a complicated 20-year immigration history
with numerous aliases and several immigration files, INS spokesman Ron
Rogers said he could not be certain whether the woman mentioned in the
original story and the woman who worked for Feinstein are the same person.

However, the INS is now certain that the woman who worked for Feinstein
did so illegally. Rogers said it took the agency until Friday to
acknowledge that Feinstein's housekeeper was undocumented because of the
"high-profile nature of the case.
"We wanted to make sure we were providing accurate information without
violating the privacy act," said Rogers. He said Feinstein's office had
been in touch with INS officials about the case.

The volatile debate over illegal immigration escalated after it was
reported that Huffington employed an undocumented baby-sitter for four
years, even though he is a staunch supporter of Proposition 187, the
illegal immigration measure.
 The disclosure started an advertising war between the two rivals, with
Feinstein airing ads on radio and television criticizing Huffington's
apparent hypocrisy and Huffington firing back with a television commercial
attacking Feinstein for employing an undocumented immigrant.

Realegeno became a legal U.S. resident just last year, but she first came
to the United States 20 years ago, officials said. According to Flynn, she
came to San Francisco in 1973 as a tourist, but was ordered to leave the
country after overstaying her visa a year later.

She returned to the United States in November 1979 with permission to stay
in the country and work for the Guatemalan consulate for one year. Around
the time her visa expired, she began working for Feinstein, who was mayor
of San Francisco at the time.
Both Feinstein and Realegeno insisted this week that the housekeeper had
presented documents before she was hired. But Flynn confirmed that the
federal government had never issued the woman immigration documents for
the period of time in question.
Nonetheless, Flynn said, Realegeno remained in the country until July
1983, when she returned to Guatemala for eight months. During that time,
Feinstein raised Realegeno's 9-year-old boy. Feinstein said at a news
conference on Thursday that she wrote a letter to federal officials to
help Realegeno return to the country.

The U.S. government gave Realegeno permission to return for "humanitarian
reasons," but she did not go back to work for Feinstein.

When asked about the letter from Feinstein, Flynn said: "I will not
comment on any other material in the files until it has been reviewed by
our legal staff."
When reached at her San Francisco home on Wednesday, Realegeno denied she
was undocumented when she worked for Feinstein. She did not return phone
calls on Friday.
Feinstein campaign officials also did not return phone calls on Friday.

Copyright 1994 The Free PressGo back to front page