Spanish Radio Tunes In to Immigration Quandaries

The first call came in at 7:55 a.m., five minutes before showtime. From Denver, where it was two hours earlier.

Daniel Park, a lawyer, sat down in the Manassas studio of La Campeona (1420 AM) and pulled on headphones, leaving the caller on hold to deliver his intro: a rapid-fire " ¡ Buenos días, buenos días, buenos días! ," an explanation of proposed immigration legislation -- and an exhortation to protest laws that would make illegal immigrants and those who aid them felons. Then he took the call.

The Colorado caller had heard about Park's Spanish-language radio show on immigration law, and she needed help. Her husband's brother, a U.S. citizen, sponsored her husband for residency five years ago, but his green card had not arrived. What could they do?

After that came Manuel in the District, wanting to know whether he could bring his Salvadoran father here once his own citizenship is approved. And Carlos in Alexandria, fretting that his friends, who had told him that his recently approved permanent residency could be a mistake, might be right.

"What is the case of Salvadorans?" Jesus, a Salvadoran caller, hesitantly asked, referring to proposed laws. "Are they going to give them residency?"

For many Hispanic immigrants -- especially the poor, undocumented or simply flummoxed -- Spanish-language radio programs offering legal advice can be key resources for answers about labyrinthine immigration laws. And these days, with tension over illegal immigration rising -- and with proposals to charge and deport such immigrants gaining traction -- hosts say the tenor of questions has changed.

"More fear," said Jay Marks, a Silver Spring lawyer who fields immigration questions each Wednesday on the popular morning show on El Zol (99.1 FM). "Lots of fear."

The immigration legislation being considered by Congress has made the shows even more vital, hosts say.

"Recent immigrants use radio as their principal source of information," said Jose Pertierra, a District lawyer who hosts "Welcome to America," a nationally broadcast Spanish-language radio program about immigration. "It is a forum that people are familiar with from back home. And the immigration laws are so confusing, even to U.S. citizens. . . . It's an opportunity for a sort of consultation with a lawyer."

When Park, 38, took to the airwaves on a recent Saturday morning for his weekly program, which also broadcasts on Radio Continental (1390 AM), the lines were busy for two hours straight. He told listeners to maintain hope but delivered as much bad news as good. As he does on every show, he repeatedly pressed listeners not to hit their wives, drive drunk or commit any other crime, lest they lose any chance at legal immigration.

"Immigrating here is harder than entering heaven," Park recently told a caller named Jose, who said he had twice been convicted of drunken driving. "God forgives. Immigration does not."

Last year, a Denver television station's legal-advice hotline was assailed by opponents who accused the station of helping illegal immigrants. Such stigma has kept sponsors away from Pertierra's show, said Carlos Alcazar, president of the Hispanic Communications Network, which produces the program and foots the bill for it.