Packard Assails Aid to Illegal Immigrants

Rep. Ron Packard (R-Oceanside) said Friday that he intends to introduce legislation that would close a governmental loophole allowing an illegal immigrant to receive a $12,000 federal relocation grant after she was forced to move from one subsidized apartment to another.

Packard, whose district straddles southern Orange County and northern San Diego County, said the woman in question, Olivia Solorio, was among 23 individuals recently relocated when her Oceanside apartment building was converted to an AIDS hospice center.

Under U.S. Housing and Urban Development guidelines, individuals who lose their homes are provided relocation payments, and the agency is legally barred from considering immigration in making the payments--a fact Packard vows to change.

“We do not believe an illegal immigrant should receive displacement costs,” Packard said. “And to pay her more than other residents in the same project--just because she was an illegal [immigrant]--seems especially wrong-headed. It’s a loophole that has to be closed.”

Solorio, 49, from Jalisco, Mexico, had lived in the South Tremont apartments in Oceanside since July 1994.

Ten of the building’s tenants moved without receiving relocation payments, and in an effort to save money on relocating 12 others, officials were able to put them in Section 8 housing, which provides federal rent subsidies.

That left Solorio in a separate category, officials said--unable to receive Section 8 housing because she’s living here illegally but eligible for Housing and Urban Development relocation money, which doesn’t consider immigration status.

Packard called it a paradox that “I hope to change . . . as soon as I possibly can.”