WASHINGTON, Dec 12 (AFP) - A newly discovered letter links Vice President Al Gore to an immigration consultant accused of making illegal contributions to the Democratic National Committee, Newsweek reports in its edition out Monday.

Gore made an appearance at a Buddhist temple in 1996, a visit arranged by immigration consultant Maria Hsia, who stands trial next month for allegedly making illegal contributions to the DNC. She denies these charges.

The DNC is the party's main administrative body.

According to the weekly, four months after Gore's visit to the temple Hsia approached him at another fundraiser to help get the Buddhist temple designated as a "federally sanctioned testing center for Asian immigrants."

Hsia sent a letter, citing the conversation, to Gore aide Elaine Kamarck, who later faxed the letter to the Immigration and Naturalization Service requesting officials there to have the "right people get in touch" with Hsia. The INS told Newsweek that it did not respond to the request.

However, the letter was never disclosed during the Senate's investigation of alleged Gore campaign finance abuses.

The letter was reportedly misfiled with documents from a presidential panel on aviation security and turned up only after someone sued to have access to the aviation commission's full records.

A Gore aide dismissed any suggestions of a cover-up of help given to Hsia. And Kamarck called the misfiling a simple "mistake."

But the new revelation is likely to fuel Republican questioning of the Clinton administration's record. Newsweek cited one Republican investigator as saying: "This looks like another example of Clinton- Gore documents disappearing into the ether."