So, she's paying $420 to re-apply for her U.S. temporary protected status (TPS) and worker's permit. Mancilla, who is currently staying home with her kids, said she's glad she doesn't have to worry about immigration raids like many of her co-workers do.

"If [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] come for us, I have permission to be here," said Mancilla.

Mancilla was one of several dozen Salvadorans who got help with their immigration questions and paperwork on Monday during a free clinic at the City-County Building.

The daylong event, organized by the Embassy of El Salvador in Washington, D.C., was run by a handful of staffers and volunteers.

The embassy is coordinating similar events in some 60 cities nationwide in hopes of reminding Salvadorans that they must re-apply for their TPS and worker's permits by the Oct. 22 deadline in order to maintain their legal status here, said Enilson Solano, the embassy's economic affairs counselor.

"We just come to support them in what they're doing," he said.

The clinic is important because it provides Salvadorans with free help, Solano said. In some cases, he said, people sometimes pay lawyers or notaries up to $4,000 to help them navigate the immigration system.

After two severe earthquakes that hit El Salvador in early 2001, Salvadorans in the United States who could prove they were already here prior to Feb. 13 of that year were able to apply for a TPS and worker's permit. The TPS and permit applications cost $420 and must be renewed every 12 to 18 months. Without the worker's permit, the TPS application is $80.

Today, about 234,000 Salvadorans in the United States have a TPS. Of them, an estimated 2,000 are in Utah, Solano said.

Some 20,000 Salvadorans live in Utah, said Veronica Flores, the state's honorary Salvadoran consulate. The 2000 U.S. Census reported that some 2,700 Salvadorans reside here.

Several Salvadorans said they were glad to get some free help, but not all of them were happy with what they learned.

Rosa Ortiz, a U.S. permanent resident, showed up to the clinic with her son, Jose Martinez, and his wife and daughter. Martinez, an undocumented worker, wanted to know if he could apply for the TPS since he's been living in Utah since 1999. But he was advised that he can no longer apply because he missed the deadline years ago.

"I feel bad because there's nothing I can do," Martinez said. jsanchez@sltrib.com