Deal made to check immigration status

A federal immigration agent will be stationed in Costa Mesa’s jail full-time beginning in December to check whether people booked at the jail are illegal immigrants, officials announced Tuesday.

That means the city won’t train its police for immigration enforcement, but the council’s controversial vote to have the city do the enforcement will likely stay on the books.

Eight state and county law enforcement agencies have federal authority to perform immigration checks, including the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, which began a federal training course for deputies on Tuesday. Costa Mesa would have been the first city to enforce federal immigration laws.

Instead, Costa Mesa Police Chief Steven Staveley and other city officials met with Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday and agreed to put a federal agent in the city jail for 40 to 50 hours a week to ensure all people arrested in Costa Mesa are checked for immigration violations, either in the city jail or at the Orange County jail.

“We clearly have enough arrestees whose legal status is questionable to make this worthwhile,” said Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor, who in December 2005 suggested the city take on immigration enforcement.

“As we analyze the progress of the program I believe it will show immediate and long-term benefits.”

The result of the new city and county programs is that more people suspected of crimes here will have their citizenship checked and may be deported.

Federal immigration officers used to make immigration checks at the Costa Mesa jail, but decreased their visits when resources became strained after Sept. 11, 2001. There are federal checks at the county jail, but Sheriff Mike Carona has said just 20% of some 15,000 foreign nationals booked there in 2005 were screened for immigration violations.

Jim Hayes, the Los Angeles field office director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said he estimates about 250 people a month will be screened at the Costa Mesa jail, regardless of the crime they’re suspected of committing.

“It’s going to be the equivalent of 24/7 coverage, and it’s probably going to amount to a little less than 10 interviews a day,” he said.

Although it’s hard to predict before the program starts, Hayes said, he guessed as many as 75 to 100 people per month who get screened in Costa Mesa may turn out to be in the U.S. illegally. Hayes proposed the plan two weeks ago.

Checking immigration has been an emotional issue in Costa Mesa. Some in the Latino community, which makes up about 30% of the city’s population, have said they’re worried they’ll be targeted by police even if they haven’t committed a crime.

Using federal agents rather than city police to check immigration status is a better way to go, said Amin David, president of Los Amigos of Orange County, a group of community leaders that focuses on Latino issues.

“That places it in the right pocket,” he said. “It’s been working rather well in Anaheim, and the residents there are not fearful of cooperating with the police nor are they fearful of calling the police.”

Costa Mesa City Councilwoman Katrina Foley, a critic of having city police enforce immigration laws, said the agreement with immigration officials means the city won’t have to pay for the enforcement and the community won’t be disrupted by having its police acting as immigration agents.

“I think it’s what should have been done all along,” Foley said. “I’m just sad that this didn’t come out before the election.”

But the council’s resolution from last December probably won’t be repealed. It said the city would work with the county or federal officials to have city police trained for immigration enforcement.

Mansoor said he doesn’t think rescinding the resolution is necessary, and Foley said Tuesday’s agreement makes the old vote moot.

Councilmen Gary Monahan and Eric Bever, who supported city enforcement of immigration laws, and Councilwoman Linda Dixon, who opposed it, could not be reached Tuesday.

Some people have said Mansoor’s plan divided the city, but it has had more quantifiable costs. Costa Mesa City Attorney Kimberly Hall Barlow told the council last week the immigration issue has cost the city more than $102,000 in attorneys’ fees and police services for council meetings and protests since October 2005.

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