June 25, 1984

Enforcement of comprehensive immigration legislation in Congress would present a huge challenge to the already overburdened Immigration and Naturalization Service, according to many specialists in the field. Alan C. Nelson, the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization, said the agency was prepared to enforce provisions of the legislation, approved in different forms by both houses of Congress, forbidding employment of illegal aliens. Few people outside the agency expressed such confidence, although several immigration lawyers said management of the agency had improved noticeably under Mr. Nelson's leadership. Volume of Work Cited Sam Bernsen, a lawyer who worked at the immigration agency for 35 years in various capacities, including general counsel and Assistant Commissioner, said: ''The Immigration and Naturalization Service is hardly able to carry out its responsibilities under present law. This legislation would lead to a mammoth, unprecedented increase in the volume of work. I do not think I.N.S. is up to the challenge with the present level of manpower. A token increase in manpower would not make it possible to do the job.''

''I get scared and stuff because what if they do something to me.

The House-Senate compromise tax bill is a patchwork of measures intended to raise $50 billion in revenues over four years while leaving individuals relatively unscathed. This deficit-reduction effort is expected to go before both chambers of Congress this week for final approval. Congressional tax writers were able to avoid imposing a general tax increase on individuals during this election year. They did so by scouring the tax code and chipping away at many business and investment tax breaks and delaying or repealing a number of benefits for individuals that have not yet gone into effect.

Forget that Dwight Stones broke an American record by high jumping 7 feet 8 inches. Forget that Steve Scott and Sydney Maree made the United States Olympic team, even though Jim Spivey beat both in the men's 1,500-meter final. The impossible happened tonight as the nine-day United States Olympic track-and-field trials ended at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mary Decker lost.

A group of prominent Roman Catholic theologians from Europe, Latin America and the United States issued a statement yesterday that defends recent theological movements that call for church involvement in politics, especially in the third world. The statement from the theologians also protested efforts on the part of high church officials to criticize and blunt these movements, known collectively as the ''theology of liberation,'' by discrediting their spokesmen. Though the officials are not named, a thinly veiled allusion to Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, the Vatican Cardinal in charge of doctrine, appears in the text. The Cardinal's views usually reflect those of Pope John Paul II, who has often addressed the themes that are central to the movement, sometimes criticizing aspects that he considers too political.