A 101-year-old Mexican who was smuggled into the United States in the back seat of his son's car 14 years ago became the oldest alien to gain legal status under the amnesty program, officials said Friday. ``Gracias, muchas gracias a todos (Thank you very much everyone),'' Carlos Romero-Gaitan said as he was presented a temporary residency permit, or green card, by Howard Ezell, western regional director the Immigration and Naturalization Service. In recent weeks, Ezell and other INS officials have taken pains to publicize the impending May 4 deadline to apply for amnesty. Romero-Gaitan, who was born in San Pedro, worked on a hacienda and as a rodeo rider, and operated a Guadalajara tortilla shop until his retirement at age 82 in 1968. When his wife died in 1974, his son Carlos Jr. of Watsonville, Calif., flew to Guadalajara and took him by plane to Tijuana, where they got into a waiting car. With the father asleep in the back, Carlos Jr. drove to the border. ``They (the Border Patrol) asked everyone else in the car for identification, but they didn't want to disturb the man who was asleep, so he got through clean,'' INS spokesman Joe Flanders said. Flanders said Romero-Gaitan has lived ever since in Watsonville, tending the family's garden, watching cowbody shows and boxing matches on television and venturing out to an annual rodeo in the Salinas area. Romero-Gaitan said Friday that he decided to apply for amnesty now ``so I can feel free to go out of my house and not be afraid of being picked up.'' Four of his five children are alive and live in the United States and Mexico. He has 30 grandchildren and 40 great-grandchildren.
