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Statement on the District Court Decision on Chicago's "Operation Clean Sweep"

April 07, 1994

Just hours ago, a Federal District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, declared the Chicago Housing Authority's (CHA) search policy in violation of the fourth amendment.

I am ordering Attorney General Reno and Secretary Cisneros to develop promptly a search policy for public housing that is both constitutionally permissible and effective and that can be implemented on a nationwide basis. We must not allow criminals to find shelter in the public housing community they terrorize.

I have also asked the Attorney General and Secretary Cisneros to explore what other resources we can provide for sweeps by localities and by Federal agencies.

During the last weekend in March, 13 people died violently in Chicago—3 of them in the Robert Taylor Homes—and more than 300 gun incidents were reported to local police. The people in the Robert Taylor Homes have asked us to help protect them, and within constitutional limits we will do so.

William J. Clinton, Statement on the District Court Decision on Chicago's "Operation Clean Sweep" Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/218854

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