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America's xenophobia appears to be cresting, one immigrant advocate asserts, but its influence on national policy will last for some time.

Several congressional battles are already in the pipeline for this year, says Norman Tilles, president of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. The agency administers federal grants for Jewish resettlement.

The Lautenberg Amendment, which eased immigration rules for Jews from the former Soviet Union, will expire this fall unless Congress extends it. Attempts to create new restrictions on the number of new refugees or immigrants are likely, Tilles said, and there are rumors that Congress may try to expand the number of years an immigrant must wait before applying for citizenship.

At the same time, HIAS leaders have felt driven to address last year's national welfare reform, which put new limits on federal benefits for immigrants.

Tilles was in San Francisco earlier this month for a two-day workshop sponsored by HIAS. Called Citizenship Across America, the new series of workshops trains professionals nationwide who are trying to help immigrants become citizens.

Though HIAS has always promoted citizenship for immigrants, the naturalization effort has taken on a new intensity in the past year.

"Right at the moment, I think it's as important as anything we're doing," Tilles said.

The welfare reform law blocks noncitizens from receiving federal benefits such as food stamps and Supplemental Security Income. The law still allows refugees — a category that includes most Jews from the former Soviet Union — to receive benefits during their first five years here. After that, they must become citizens if they want to keep those benefits.

For many elderly immigrants in particular, learning English is an insurmountable obstacle to passing the citizenship test.

At one HIAS workshop, held in Dallas, that included about 200 emigres seeking citizenship, "the fear was pervasive," Tilles said. "You could feel it in the air."

Tilles considers efforts to amend the welfare law's limits on immigrants to be the most important legislative goal this year.

Americans "should not be so mean-spirited," he said.

In his 1997-98 budget, released this month, President Clinton has proposed restoring benefits to disabled or elderly immigrants who can't work or who are too incapacitated to apply for citizenship. Whether the Republican-dominated Congress will accept such a proposal is unclear.

Meanwhile, other legislation affecting immigrants looms.

The Lautenberg Amendment, passed in 1989, was spearheaded by former New Jersey Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg. It qualified Jews and evangelical Christians in the former Soviet Union for refugee status more easily than others because both groups are considered more vulnerable to persecution. Last summer, the amendment was extended for one more year. It is now set to expire Sept. 30.

"I personally feel it will be difficult [to pass] because of the whole anti-immigration feeling in this country," Tilles said.

If the amendment is extended for one more year, another 20,000 to 30,000 Jews in the former Soviet Union can apply to come as refugees to the United States. If it fails, Tilles noted, the 75,000 to 100,000 Jews already in the process of applying for refugee status would probably still be allowed in.

In the same vein, Tilles said, Congress may repeat last year's attempt to reduce the number of new immigrants, including refugees, who are allowed into the country. About 78,000 refugees will enter the United States this year. Ex-Soviet Jews will likely account for 20,000 to 30,000 of them, according to HIAS.

Tilles also noted rumors about possible changes in citizenship requirements. Currently, an immigrant can become a citizen after living here five years. Tilles has heard talk of Congressmembers wanting to extend that period to seven years.

If the new five-year restriction on federal aid for refugees would also remain intact, he noted, there would be a two-year gap during which these immigrants could receive no benefits. Though such a change in citizenship rules is "just talk," Tilles said, "whenever I hear `talk,' I worry."

Meanwhile, conditions generally remain the same for Jews in former Soviet republics — as Tilles puts it, "in one word: bad."

"The Russians have been one of the most anti-Semitic peoples in the world. That hasn't stopped," he said. "It is part and parcel of their blood."

Though HIAS' current naturalization push is a reaction in large part to the welfare reform, Tilles said other practical reasons for obtaining citizenship exist as well. Noncitizens, for example, can be deported.

"You're a second-class person," he said. "It's just bad news."