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Tuesday, January 17, 2006

2nd city mulls police plan
Garden Grove will study Costa Mesa's controversial new policy extending immigration enforcement duties to local officers.

By NGUYEN HUY VU and MELANIE WONG
The Orange County Register

GARDEN GROVE – One of the county's most culturally diverse cities is joining the debate about how far local police agencies should go in enforcing federal immigration law.

Garden Grove officials are studying Costa Mesa's recent decision to give some police officers the power to check the citizenship status of a felony suspect. If Garden Grove follows suit, the two cities could be among the first municipalities in the country with such a policy.

Councilman Mark Leyes last month asked city staff to look into whether changes are needed and whether there is enough funding to train and hire police and staff for the additional work.

"I suggested that we spend some time thinking about what is appropriate as a community regarding the issue," Leyes said. "My intention is to ... invite people to have a conversation about what the problem is and how we can address it."

City leaders say it's too early to determine whether they would approve a plan to train the police force and staff to take on the federal immigration role.

But some residents say they fear the city's study - and a possible future decision - could hurt the relationship between police and the Latino community. The city is 32.5 percent white, 32.5 percent Hispanic, 31 percent Asian and 4 percent other, according to the 2000 census.

Eli Diaz, 28, who immigrated from Mexico when he was 8, said he fears police would not only target serious criminals but also law-abiding residents. He called the efforts race-based and said they would push Latinos out of the area.

"They say it won't happen, but the serious criminals - they don't catch them," Diaz said, referring to drug dealers and violence he has seen in the area. "Instead they catch innocent people who aren't doing anything serious.

"You have to give us a chance,'' he said. "A lot of people don't have the chance to get papers. They're working, trying to support their families."

Reneé Victor, 41, of Garden Grove, said she would support the efforts. Concerns that police would overstep their powers are unfounded, she said.

"If they had their papers, why should they be worried about it?" Victor said. "They're being paranoid."

Leyes said he would never propose that police go door to door and check people's immigration status.

"But if someone is in custody for stealing a car, we should check warrants, and at the same token, why can't we check and see their immigration status?" Leyes said.

City Manager Matthew Fertal said city staff and police are gathering information and will return to the City Council with a report. There is no deadline for the report.

Council members Mark Rosen and Janet Nguyen said they wanted to see the study before they commented.

But Councilman Harry Krebs said he would oppose having the city's stretched- thin police force take on additional duties.

"The federal government should take care of this," Krebs said.

Activist Benny Diaz said he is not worried about the study because city officials he has spoken with told him they would not support such a measure.

"I don't think the city of Garden Grove will be able to accept or promote such an (effort),'' Diaz said. "Our city is very diversified. We blend nicely and the city connects with us. They're not trying to push Latinos out."

Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor said the demand for such a policy has been building up for a long time. The Costa Mesa City Council in December voted 3-2 in favor of a proposal similar to one by the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Mansoor said he has received calls and e-mails supporting his city's efforts. The Cypress City Council last week voted to send letters of support to Costa Mesa and the sheriff's department. Earlier this month, anti-illegal-immigration groups such as the Minuteman Project and the California Coalition for Immigration Reform protested at day-laborer sites in Laguna Beach and Lake Forest.

"Illegal immigration has had an impact on our lives in terms of public safety," Mansoor said. "When someone is here illegally and commits a serious crime, something should be done about it."

He dismissed fears that the efforts are anti-immigrant and would target Latinos as "silly," and said officers would be trained to prevent racial profiling.

Frank Bean, sociology professor and co-director of UC Irvine's Center for Research on Immigration, said he believes efforts to curb illegal immigration are heavily influenced by the lack of growth in low-paying jobs in recent years.

He said that while the economy has bounced back, job growth has barely kept up with population growth.

"Young Latino men, especially, have less employment opportunities than they had five years ago," Bean said.

When the economic situation is tough, immigrants and the poor tend to put more strain on local services with things like increased gang activity or hospital visits, he said.

"It creates real strains," Bean said. "It's easy to say that these people are just prejudiced, but there's also a reality in this."


Then


Garden Grove City Councilman Mark Leyes on Dec. 13 requested a staff study of the Orange County Sheriff's Department's and Costa Mesa's policing plan. The plan gives power to jail personnel and certain investigators to report illegal immigrants suspected of felonies.

Now

City staff members and police are gathering information for the study to present to the council at an undetermined date.

What's next

City officials are expected to determine if changes are needed to handle criminal suspects believed to be illegal immigrants.