EARTHQUAKE: THE LONG ROAD BACK : U.S. Plan to Cut Aid to Illegal Immigrants Jolts Many : Assistance: The proposal will discourage needy applicants, some fear. Riordan opposes the idea but other officials applaud it.

For Dora Ramirez and others still homeless after last month’s earthquake, Tuesday’s news was shocking: Federal authorities in Washington were now seeking to cut quake assistance to illegal immigrants.

Illegal and legal immigrants “are both human beings . . . regardless of what papers they carry,” said Ramirez, a mother of three from Guatemala who was one of many seeking housing help Tuesday at an assistance center in the San Fernando Valley. “We all felt the earthquake the same,” added Ramirez, a tent city resident who said she is undocumented.

Local reaction was sharp and divided to the House Appropriations Committee’s vote that would bar illegal immigrants from non-emergency earthquake aid, including rental subsidies.

To many immigrants and their advocates, the proposal will only serve to discourage needy applicants and heighten discrimination against foreign-appearing legal residents seeking help.

“Once you start asking questions about people’s immigration status, that has a real chilling effect,” said Charles Wheeler, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, a Los Angeles legal assistance office. “I think it is cruel and bizarre to link immigration status to a natural disaster of this magnitude.”

City Councilman Mike Hernandez, whose inner-city district includes a significant immigrant population: “What they are doing is creating scapegoats.”

Mayor Richard Riordan went on record against cutting aid to illegal immigrants, contending that such a move would create a “bureaucratic nightmare.” The mayor made the statement in a letter to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), who was one of the first lawmakers to propose barring quake assistance to illegal immigrants.

To those critical of Tuesday’s House action, it appeared paradoxical that such restrictions are being contemplated despite the fact that U.S. officials enthusiastically distribute disaster aid worldwide. “Yet we have a disaster in our own back yard and people are looking at these kinds of issues,” said Councilman Richard Alarcon, who represents the heavily Latino northeast Valley.

Others applauded the congressional move, which they said would rightfully deny assistance to people who should not be in the United States in the first place.

“This is a step in the right direction,” said Councilwoman Laura Chick, who represents the western portion of the San Fernando Valley. “First we have to help people who are here legally.”

Assisting illegal immigrants only encourages their continued presence, said Daniel Stein, executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington-based group that favors restrictions on immigration.

“You’re aiding and abetting the continued illegal residence of someone who has no right to be here,” Stein said.

Many observers wondered how federal authorities planned to implement the new program if it passes Congress. For instance, there is the thorny question of the eligibility of families with undocumented parents and U.S.-citizen children.

“We just don’t know how this is going to play out,” said Susan Alva, project coordinator for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. She and others fear the prospect of discrimination, particularly if authorities only inquire about the immigration status of people who speak with accents or otherwise appear foreign.

“In my view, it’s going to come down to those of us who look like immigrants: Latinos and Asians,” said Irma Rodriguez, staff attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Times staff writer Patrick J. McDonnell contributed to this story.