To Some, Refuge Looks More Like a Trap : Salvadorans: Their protected status here should be extended until the U.S.-supported war in their homeland ends.

Central American activists and refugee advocates hailed congressional passage of a provision in the Immigration Act of 1990 that offered temporary protected status to Salvadoran refugees in the United States. At last, the law recognized that El Salvador’s civil war has forced hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans out of their homes in search of a safe haven here.

But the Salvadoran community’s reaction has been unenthusiastic, in part because the law is fundamentally flawed. If it is to work as Congress intended, it must be corrected.

As the law now stands, Salvadorans are eligible for 18 months of legal status--from Jan. 1, 1991, until June 30, 1992--if they can prove that they were in the United States on Sept. 19, 1990, and have not since left. But with only weeks to go before the registration period ends on June 30, of the 500,000 Salvadorans estimated to be eligible, only 72,000 had signed up by May 24.

One reason for the poor showing is that the law grants temporary refuge only until June, 1992, regardless of whether the war has ended. At that point, all of the Salvadorans who signed up will be deportable. Further protection would be dependent on another act of Congress, a change in the Bush Administration’s views or an individual’s success in gaining legal status through political asylum or other means.

Most advocates are confident that the temporarily protected Salvadorans can use administrative and legal procedures to forestall deportation until the war has ended. Yet the culture and education of Salvadorans make such predictions of limited value in persuading them to register for temporary protective status. Nor does the Immigration and Naturalization Service inspire confidence. The Salvadorans’ choice is between continuing to live with the security they have known as undocumented refugees or to venture into a system historically hostile to their plight.

For a Salvadoran refugee, registering for temporary protected status is like buying a used car. The car appears to be in pretty good shape. But the dealer is not reputable and the car comes without a warranty.

The dealer--the U.S. government--lost credibility in the Salvadoran community 10 years ago when the war began. Washington not only failed to honor the international legal precept that war refugees can remain in their country of refuge until hostilities in their home country cease. It also continually abused the rights of Salvadorans seeking safe haven in the United States by turning down nearly all of their applications for political asylum. Some were even deported to their deaths.

Throughout, it was well within the discretion of the attorney general to grant the Salvadorans safe haven. An equivalent status was granted to thousands of Cubans and Czechoslovakians, among others.

The law granting Salvadorans temporary refuge was passed only after years of advocacy and congressional effort.

Refugee advocates generally believe that the new status is a good bet, even though the law is imperfect. But the Salvadoran refugees understand that our calculations are no guarantee against deportation. They deserve better.

Toward that end, we should legally honor the international principle that war refugees not be deported. If Washington announced its willingness to respect this right, more Salvadorans would register for temporary protected status; 10 years of deportations are not easily forgotten.

The government can take two steps to reassure skeptical Salvadorans. Congress could amend the legislation to extend the interval of protection to the end of the civil war. Or the attorney general could do what he should have done 10 years ago: declare that Salvadorans will not be deported until the war is over.

Regrettably, the Salvadoran community has no reason to be optimistic. Washington still bankrolls a regime in San Salvador that is internationally ostracized for violating the human rights of its citizens.

If our foreign policy continues to exacerbate the flow of refugees, the least we should do is provide safe haven in the United States for victims of that policy. Temporary protected status falls far short of that obligation.