The Region - News from Aug. 22, 1986

The U.S. Department of Justice has awarded $127,540 to the San Diego Assn. of Governments (Sandag) for a two-year study to determine how much of a burden illegal aliens place on the justice systems of San Diego County and El Paso, Tex. The study is designed to clear up confusion about how much crime is committed by illegal aliens in the two areas heavily traveled by immigrants, according to James K. Stewart, director of the National Institute of Justice, which awarded the grant. The study will examine 12,000 serious felony cases from 1985, and preliminary findings should be released in October, 1987, according to Susan Pennell, director of Sandag’s criminal research unit.