The State - News from April 18, 1986

An official of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service endorsed a federal plan to evict illegal aliens from federally subsidized housing. Speaking at a news conference in Fresno, Regional INS Commissioner Harold Ezell said his agency lacks manpower to police the entire Mexican border, so he focuses on ways to make the United States a less attractive place to live for illegal immigrants. “I feel that housing should go first to citizens and lawful residents,” he said. “Taxpayers’ money is being taken by illegal aliens.” Ezell said his office will cooperate with housing agencies to track down illegal aliens, much like INS assists welfare departments trying to remove aliens from their rolls. The new regulations from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have been criticized by some housing officials who charge that American citizens--children of illegal aliens who have been born in the United States--will be tossed out.