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%u00b1 A FOURTH OF JULY SALUTE TO LADY LIBERTYRomanian Jumps Ship Last Week In Brooklyn:BY ROB TAYLORFor people around the world, America%u2019s promise still draws an enormous number of immigrants each year. They come legally and illegally, for economic needs and political reasons. Early in the morning on June 25. for example, Virgil Anastasio, a 37-year-old Romanian engineer, left his ship. The Bagias, docked on the Brooklyn waterfront, to seek a new life in the United States.The ship was at Sunset Park%u2019s Pier 39 and .Anastasio walked to a telephone booth at Fourth Avenue and 53rd Street and dialed the emergency number, 911. In broken English, Anastasio said he had left his Romanian ship and needed a police officer.A squad car was dispatched from the 72nd Precinct to pick him up but there was some confusion about his location. Officer .Albert Nehoun says he and his partner first drove past Anastasio on the street. When they could not find him where he said he would be, they drove back to the man they had seen standing on the street.The connection was made, Anastasio was taken to the precinct house, where he told the officers he wanted political asylum and that he would like to contact a cousin in California. Police officers immediately turn over all asylum cases to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and an INS officer arrived and drove Anastasio to the Immigration office in Manhattan where he filed a request for political asylum.William Slattery, assistant director of the INS New York office, was assigned Anastasio%u2019s case. He said that he filled out a standard form that asks for biographical information and the reasons he is seeking asylum. The department will not release information about any political refugee without their consent and Anastasio did not want to speak to the media.INS does not assume financial responsibility for any person seeking political asylum. Holding a certificate identifying him as a refugee and with a case now pending before INS, Anastasio was personally responsible for locating a place to stay. He can leave the area, but is required to evenA t a phone booth at 53rd St., and Fourth A ve.,Anastasio said he had left his ship and wanted asylum.tually appear in New York for his hearing.There are several organizations that assist refugees in New York including the International Rescue Committee and the Tolstoy Foundation. Barbara Nagorsky of the International Rescue Committee says that Anastasio had not contacted her office but probably some friends or relatives.Anastasio began a procedure that some 15,000 people seek every year. In 1985,6500 individuals were granted political asylum in this country and 14,712 were denied. An INS spokesman said that about 4000 of the individuals receiving asylum were Iranian, both Ba%u2019hais and Jews.Once an individual files for asylum, he can wait up to two years for a ruling from INS. The application is first forwarded to the U.S. State Department for a review and a possible investigation. The burden of proof is on the individual requesting asylum if there is not enough evidence, an investigation might be necessary.The State Department offers an advisory opinion and a final decision in the case is left to INS. If the request is denied, the individual can appeal the decision.The asylum process is lengthy and according to the INS spokesman needs to be %u201cstreamlined.%u201d There are several pieces ofP h o e n ix P h o to b y K a th ry n K irkI painted universitywalls and leafleteda high school andpeople said I wasa guerilla.The Gold Door Swings Wide Each Year To Welcome New Immigrantsimmigration reform legislation currently before Congress. %u201cSome people feel the review period is too long, especially for claims that are too frivolous,%u201d he said. %u201cWe even have people requesting asylum because they don%u2019t have cable television. Those types of applications should be weeded out fast.%u201dPolitical persecution is only one reason individuals come to the United States. The vast majority want to become part of this country%u2019s economic prosperity. While some arrive illegally, immigration officials said that when they want to obtain legal residence, they must officially be in another country to obtain a visa.Legal immigrants who want to obtain the coveted %u201cgreen card%u201d can either directly apply to an American consulate before receiving permission to enter the country or they can marry an American citizen and be granted immediate legal residency.Under present law, the United States government assigns every country a quota of immigrants it will receive each year. After filing the formal application, the applicant and his family are placed on a waiting list. If the immigrant has extended family already living in the United States or has a particular skill the United States needs, he or she is placed higher on the list.Immigrants who do not have the patience to wait for a %u201cgreen card%u201d can always enter the country and illegally look for work. In addition to people who just walk across the United States border with Mexico, tourists and students have been known to look for work after arriving in the country. If hired, their employer can then make a special appeal to INS and claim that the newly hired employee is indispensable to his business.According to INS data for 1985, legal immigrants are now least likely to come from Europe. There were 750,000 legal immigrants who became U.S. residents during 1985. Of the ethnic groups discussed in this issue, there were 3,521 Russians; 9,464 Poles; 10,165 Haitians; 13,563 Cambodians; 10,156 Salvadorans; 20,334 Cubans; and 290 Finns. INS has no official estimates of the number of illegal aliens from any of these countries.We%u2019re celebrating 10 years of proving that an ethnically balanced neighborhood is a good idea.For everyone.SMRRETOTY.il*1 O TH ANNIVERSARYm anaged by the Delmar division ofGRENADIER REALTY CORP.1279 Delmar Loop, Brooklyn, NY 11239Page 28, THE PHOENIX, July 3,1986