Mickey Perez looks forward to the day she stops worrying when her husband leaves for work. Perez is from Des Moines. Her husband, Raul, is from Mexico. He was in the United States illegally when they married in 1999, and has since lived an uneasy existence.
Deportation waits around every corner.
Every time he leaves to go to work, I'm worrying. Perez and perhaps thousands of other Iowans have a rare chance to establish residency for spouses, children and other relatives. President Clinton signed a new immigration law in December that opened a narrow window of opportunity. Immigrants who qualify can apply for residency without being required to first return to their native countries, where they sometimes wait up to 10 years for permission to return. Recent immigrants are greeting the Legal Immigration and Family Equity Act with excitement.