Public Housing Ban on Illegal Aliens Planned

The Reagan Administration announced Monday that illegal immigrants will be evicted from federally subsidized housing and that all applicants for such shelter will be required to prove citizenship or legal status under new regulations.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development said that the regulations, which will go into effect on July 30, will also require that residents already in public housing prove their citizenship or immigrant status after Oct. 27, whenever their cases come up for review.

The new rules “are intended to reserve scarce housing assistance resources for persons with the most legitimate claim--namely, citizens and other persons lawfully present in the United States,” HUD said in a statement.

The agency said the regulations, which were immediately criticized by civil rights activists, were required by congressional legislation prohibiting assistance to illegal immigrants through public housing, rental subsidies and mortgage interest subsidies.

The federal government estimates that 2 million to 6 million illegal immigrants live in this country, and some private groups assert that the number is higher.

Steven L. Balis, a HUD attorney, said that 10 million people live in 4.1 million federally subsidized units nationwide. But he said the department has “no projections” on how many illegal immigrants live in the units.

Number in L.A. Unknown

Similarly, Robert J. Zampino, acting director of the Los Angeles Housing Authority, said it is impossible to determine how many illegal immigrants are among the 120,000 residents of the city’s 31,000 federally subsidized housing units because housing officials are not permitted to ask whether residents are illegal aliens.

Balis said that HUD is delaying implementation of the regulations until July to allow “sufficient lead time” for housing agencies to receive instructions on the new procedures, including provisions for evicting illegal immigrants.

Nevertheless, Zampino foresaw a “whole host of problems,” including civil liberties groups “jumping on us” for requiring proof of citizenship or legal status. At the same time, he complained, the federal government will be looking to agencies like his to enforce the new rules. “We can’t win,” Zampino said.

‘Going to Be a Mess’

Linda J. Wong, an attorney with the Los Angeles office of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said that implementing the new rules “is going to be a mess.” She said that many illegal immigrants live in “mixed households” containing some family members who have legal immigrant status. Such families could be separated because of the rules, she said.

Wong wondered whether housing officials would assist evicted immigrants in finding new housing, “or will they be left out in the cold?” In any case, she said, HUD officials “will play the role of judge and prosecutor, determining who should be here.”

Balis said that HUD intends to make the process “as objective as possible.”

In the identification process, he said, officials will ask for such documents as birth certificates and passports for U.S. citizens and work permits or other documents for immigrants.