After Bitter Debate, Council Approves Aid for Salvadorans

The Los Angeles City Council, after a bitter debate that divided members along racial lines, voted Tuesday to offer $10,000 for relocation assistance for Central American refugees allegedly threatened by Salvadoran death squads.

The council also called for a congressional investigation into the threats and attacks and condemned Harold Ezell, Western regional director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, for his statement dismissing the incidents as publicity stunts.

“The City Council strongly disapproves the inappropriate, inflammatory and insensitive comments made by Immigration and Naturalization Service Commissioner Ezell,” the resolution said.

The council voted 11 to 1 to adopt the resolutions introduced by Councilwoman Gloria Molina, with Councilman Hal Bernson casting the sole no vote because he objected to special treatment for the crime victims and because he did not want to condemn Ezell.

The vote failed to record the sharp debate that pitted the council’s two Latino members against two of its three black members.

Councilmen Gilbert Lindsay and Nate Holden, who are black, objected to the relocation grant, saying it gives preferential treatment to refugee crime victims at a time when members of their communities are being killed in gang and drug warfare.

Molina and Councilman Richard Alatorre, both Latinos, argued angrily that they had joined the council majority in approving $100,000 for an African task force and money for black community activities and noted that they support the city’s anti-apartheid laws.