[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 111 (Friday, August 7, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1628-E1629]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          IN TRIBUTE TO THE LEGAL AID FOUNDATION OF LONG BEACH

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                           HON. STEPHEN HORN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, August 6, 1998

  Mr. HORN. Mr. Speaker, when the House voted earlier this week to add 
$109 million in funding for the Legal Services Corporation, it was a 
victory for low-income Americans and our ideal of equal justice under 
law. The Legal Services Corporation plays a key role in the 
administration of justice for low-income Americans who cannot afford to 
pay the often high costs of civil legal assistance. It makes the ideal 
of equal justice under law a reality for the most vulnerable members of 
our society.
  Legal assistance for the poor has made a real difference for many of 
my constituents. Funded in part by the Legal Services Corporation, the 
Legal Aid Foundation of Long Beach has helped many of my constituents 
correct injustices in their lives. For example, one client, Rosa, had 
an estranged husband who often beat her. During a one-day, court-
allowed visit, the husband took their children and fled to Mexico. He 
did not return the children for more than a year. After he again 
threatened to take the children to Mexico, Rosa tried unsuccessfully on 
her own to get a restraining order. The Legal Aid Foundation of Long 
Beach helped her to get a restraining order prohibiting removal of the 
children from California and cutting off her ex-husband's visitation.
  In another case, five tenants in an apartment house in downtown Long 
Beach sought assistance from the Legal Aid Foundation when their 
landlord tried to evict them. The building had been cited multiple 
times for health and safety violations and had been illegally converted 
from six units to eleven. The tenants wanted to move but lacked the 
money to pay moving costs and deposits at another apartment. The 
Foundation successfully defended the tenants in the eviction proceeding 
and worked with the City of Long Beach and obtained safe, habitable 
Section 8 housing for them.
  These are just two examples of the good work of the Legal Aid 
Foundation of Long Beach, and the work funded by the Legal Services 
Corporation. The House was right to

[[Page E1629]]

add funding for the Legal Services Corporation. Low-income Americans 
need this agency to ensure that justice does not depend on one's 
ability to pay.

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