FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          CR
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1996                        (202) 616-2765
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888
                                 
       VILLAGE OF HATCH, N.M. TO PAY MORE THAN $260,000 TO 
              RESOLVE ALLEGATIONS OF DISCRIMINATION

     WASHINGTON, D.C. --  A New Mexico town has agreed to pay
more than $260,000 to resolve allegations that it discriminated
against persons of Mexican national origin by selectively
enforcing a law banning mobile homes. 
 
     Today's agreement, filed in U.S. District Court in Las
Cruces, resolves both a June 1995 Justice Department lawsuit and
a private lawsuit charging the Village of Hatch with violating
the federal Fair Housing Act.  

     "We cannot allow a town to use their zoning authority to
deny decent housing to a group of people because of their
national origin," said Assistant Attorney General for Civil
Rights Deval L. Patrick.  
     
     The lawsuits alleged that an anti-mobile home ordinance was
only enforced in the area of the village along Elm Street.  That
street was primarily populated by Mexican farmworkers, who were
legal resident aliens earning a living working in the nearby
crops.  Because of the ordinance, some individuals were forced to
move from Hatch and reside in substandard areas known as
"colonias," which consist of dwellings, often no more than
shacks, that have limited or no potable water, wastewater
systems, roads, or drainage control systems.

     In May 1994, the private plaintiffs obtained a temporary
restraining order, which has been in effect throughout the
lawsuit, preventing the village from enforcing the zoning
ordinance.

     Under today's agreement the town will:  

         pay $176,000 in compensatory damages to eleven families
          affected by the enforcement of the ordinance;
    
         allow any of the families who were displaced by the
          Village's enforcement efforts to return;   

         design an integration plan which includes a study of
          methods to ensure affordable and safe housing
          opportunities, the identification of funding for low
          income housing, and a proposal for inducements for
          development of low income housing; and,

         pay a $2,000 civil penalty to the United States and
          attorney's fees to the private plaintiffs. 

     The town has already amended its zoning map to allow mobile
homes throughout most of the town.

     "The Village has worked cooperatively to address its housing
and community development needs," added Patrick.  "It should be
commended for its efforts to promote a new spirit of harmony and
unity among its residents." 
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