Immigration for the younger generation

COSTA MESA ? Most of them are too young to vote, but the majority of the Newport-Mesa high school students who came to a Tuesday night forum on immigration have family ties to the issue.

About 100 students attended the discussion held at the Costa Mesa Neighborhood Community Center by the local group Neighbors for a Safe Community. When asked which students’ parents had come to the U.S. from another country, nearly all the students raised their hands.

Although some students were fuzzy on the details of the immigration debate going on at the federal, state and local levels, others voiced their opinions.

Asked about the enforcement-only bill the House passed in December, Jose Mendoza said: “I think it’s a bad idea. My family was illegal here; through hard work, we became legalized ? They shouldn’t label people as criminals because they cross the border.”

Mendoza, 19, is a Costa Mesa resident who attends Cal State Fullerton and is in the city’s police explorer program, which lets young people learn about a law enforcement career.

Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund explained federal and local immigration enforcement proposals, and students talked about how they might affect the community.

It’s a timely issue in Costa Mesa, where the City Council in December voted to create a plan to train police for immigration enforcement. The plan isn’t in place yet, and students said because the media don’t always explain that, some immigrants here are afraid they could be questioned about their status now.

Hoping to put the issue in perspective, Costa Mesa attorney Chris Blank told students he’d broken the speed limit earlier Tuesday, and he said committing a crime ? such as illegal immigration ? doesn’t necessarily make someone a bad person.

“We don’t seem to have any problem getting past the fact that there are all of us doing things that are illegal every day,” Blank said.

Politicians say illegal immigration is the issue, but they go on to list other problems such as day laborers soliciting work or students coming to school and not knowing English, he said.

“What I hear are a lot of things that are not complaints about how somebody came here but that are complaints about their status in life, that they’re poor or they don’t speak the language.”

Corona del Mar High School history teacher Mary Christensen took issue with Blank’s characterization of the issue, and she pointed out that illegal immigration can cause harm by breaking up families in Mexico when parents come to the U.S. to work.

“I think it sends a really bad message to kids to tell them they can pick and choose which laws to respect,” she said.

One student wanted to know what happens to the children of illegal immigrants who are deported. In response, ACLU attorney Belinda Escobosa Helzer said they can become wards of the state and go into foster care.

“I don’t mean to scare you guys, but these are real issues that could come up,” she said.

Students also were offered information pamphlets about immigration issues, and a follow-up meeting is scheduled in June.