MIGRANT WORKERS: LEGAL ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE

KENNETT -- Arturo Sotro waited patiently in a chair with a note pad in hand so that he could explain his problem to Emily Bono.

As another couple gathered their papers from the table and shuffled them back into a colored folder, Sotro took his seat across from Bono.

Bono, who works for the Migrant Farm workers Project, provides legal advice to migrant workers in Missouri. She sets up an office in the Bootheel for 10 days of every month during the peak farming season. Last week she worked from boxes spread across a table in the lobby of the Migrant Health Center.

Sotro, like many of her other clients, has questions about work visas, citizenship and immigration. Bono has the answers.

"They ask for information about immigration for their family or citizenship," she said, adding that not every person she sees becomes a client.

The majority of questions are about the process of getting their families to the United States, she said. "It's a complicated process and usually someone dropped the ball and I have to find out where."

Although most of her legal cases require research about immigration or citizenship, the majority of migrant workers are legal residents of the United States or have legal work visas, Bono said.

A person must live in the United States for five years before they can become a legal resident. Citizenship requires more time since an applicant must be a legal resident and take a written test on American government, and be able to speak, read and write in English.

"Not all of them want to be citizens," Bono said of her clients. "It means they have to give up a citizenship. Others don't see the need to hassle with all the forms."