Police could enforce immigration law

Costa Mesa mayor wants city’s police to be trained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to apply federal rules.Costa Mesa could become the first city to ask its police officers to enforce federal immigration laws if the City Council agrees to a proposal Mayor Allan Mansoor will make Tuesday.

A 1996 law allows state and local jurisdictions to enforce federal immigration laws. Under Mansoor’s plan, Costa Mesa police would be trained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to enforce immigration laws in the course of their normal duties.

Local police wouldn’t be out doing sweeps to find illegal immigrants, said Mansoor, who works as an Orange County Sheriff’s Department deputy. But when officers encounter suspected illegal immigrants during, say, a traffic stop, they could investigate and turn people over to immigration officials when warranted, he said.

“It’s something that I believe the public wants to see done, and it’s something that needs to be done,” Mansoor said. “Illegal immigration is something that needs to be addressed at all levels.”

Three other jurisdictions have taken the step Costa Mesa will consider: State police in Florida and Alabama, and the Arizona Department of Corrections have some officers trained to enforce immigration laws, said Virginia Kice, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman. The sheriff’s departments in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties will soon offer training to some officers, she said.

If the city moves forward, Costa Mesa police would receive about 3 1/2 weeks of training, Chief John Hensley said. After training, officers could question people about their immigration status when they are suspected of other crimes.

If they are determined to be in the country illegally, officers would take them to the Costa Mesa police station and contact immigration officials, who could hold them at a federal facility in Westminster or book them into county facilities, Hensley said.

This would be new. Costa Mesa police don’t routinely investigate immigration violations now because it’s outside the city’s jurisdiction, Hensley said.

The chief didn’t take a position on whether Mansoor’s plan is a good idea, but he said he’s concerned it could spread his staff too thin.

“We’re at capacity, so any time something is added, we have to look at something else that we may not do.... I do have questions about whether these new duties will cause us to be concerned about our response times and allow us to follow up in an expeditious manner on claims and crime reports,” Hensley said.

Councilwoman Katrina Foley said she has the same concern, and she added that immigration enforcement is absolutely a federal responsibility.

“I think that’s a gigantic burden that we are not equipped to handle, and I think it’s a very costly endeavor,” she said.

Other council members could not be reached for comment.

While some believe immigration enforcement is the federal government’s responsibility, voters and politicians have begun to call for a crackdown on illegal immigrants at various levels. They hope stemming the flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S. will help solve problems from overcrowded schools to substandard hospital care.

Despite President Bush’s pledge this week to strengthen the nation’s borders, Mansoor said he’s disappointed with the federal response to the situation.

“This is a wake-up call to let the federal government know that we want more enforcement, and quite honestly, I think the federal government can’t do it by itself,” Mansoor said. “I think it needs to be a cooperative effort.”

Foley said maybe there’s a reason no other cities have taken this kind of step.

“These kinds of issues divide our community.... Why is Costa Mesa stepping out on a limb to do this when we don’t have other cities of similar size and budget and demographics doing something similar?” she said.

Hensley said he expects the proposal to attract nationwide attention.

“I suspect that this will be one of the bigger issues to have confronted this community in a long time,” he said.

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