The new law contains a broad range of attacks against immigrant rights. These attacks include denying the right to appeal deportations and making it considerably harder for undocumented immigrants to gain legal status.

Protesters at the vigil demanded that the U.S. government grant permanent resident status to all Guatemalan and Salvadoran immigrants who came fleeing the brutal wars backed by the U.S. government in those countries. As has become customary for such events, the vigil was a lead story in the Spanish-language media, while the English-language press buried it in the back pages.

Most of those in attendance were Central American immigrants targeted by the legislation. Among those who spoke was Juan, 37, who recounted how, as a former draftee of the Guatemalan army, he had witnessed the devastating massacres routinely carried out by the army and then blamed on guerrilla forces. He also stated that the signing of the peace accords has done little to ensure peace in Guatemala, citing as evidence the recent kidnapping and murder of several Guatemalan student activists.

Guadalupe, a 17-year-old student at Robert E. Lee High School in Houston, said, "The U.S. government owes a great moral debt to the people of Guatemala for all the military aid and training it provided the Guatemalan army. The least it can do is give permanent residence to the Guatemalans who are here."

Also speaking at the vigil was Sara Chamorro, a U.S. citizen whose husband, a 25-year-old Chilean immigrant with temporary resident status, was deported under retroactive enforcement of the new law. "This law is discriminatory against all Hispanics, against all immigrants," she said, "and it's only going to get worse if we don't do something about it."

Paul Coltrin

Houston,Texas

Rent regulation laws
Landlords, real estate interests and their representatives in New York state have begun the most serious campaign to date against the state regulations that limit rents on 1.2 million apartments in New York City and its suburbs. Rent regulation laws protect 2.5 million tenants, over one-half of all city renters.

The laws, which have been extended every 2-4 years since they were first adopted during World War II, are currently set to expire June 15. They limit the amount rents can be increased and restrict the grounds on which a landlord can evict tenants. They also require landlords to continue services and make repairs in regulated buildings

While some politicians, like New York City mayor [Rudolph] Giuliani, who is running for reelection, said they favor of an extension of the laws, many have begun a public campaign to gut them. Joseph Bruno, the State Senate majority leader, has led the assault, claiming the laws stifle new housing construction. "The greediest people in this whole debate are those who are living in subsidized units that don't need to be subsidized by other tax-payers. Let 'em move to the Bronx. Let `em move to Queens. Let 'em move around in the city like everybody else has to do in the whole world," Bruno says.

In 1993, means testing was introduced with a law that ended rent controls for households earning more than $250,000 and paying rents of $2,000 or more.

In an editorial on December 9, 1996, the New York Post argued for ending all of the rent regulations outright. The New York Times weighed in with an editorial on April 8, 1997 calling the existing laws "outmoded and unfair to tenants and landlords alike." They called for "phased decontrol." Agreeing with the New York Times, Governor George E. Pataki has come out in support of eliminating rent regulations on apartments as they become vacant.

The Metropolitan Council on Housing has organized a coalition of tenant and tenant rights organizations in "Showdown '97," an intensive lobbying effort focused on state legislators in Albany. They have sponsored panels throughout the city in an effort to mobilize people for a May 20 Tenant Lobby Day in Albany.

Ruth Robinett

Vivian Sahner

New York, New York

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