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Escondido council meeting heats up


Angry words over illegal immigration
By J. Harry Jones
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
September 28, 2006

ESCONDIDO – In a prelude to what is likely to be one of the most contentious City Council meetings in city history next week, a seemingly simple request by Councilman Ron Newman yesterday became a emotional debate about illegal immigration.

Next week, the council is scheduled to consider an ordinance designed to attack illegal immigration head-on by fining landlords who rent to undocumented immigrants.

Newman, who is against the proposed ordinance, asked the council yesterday to consider establishing a tracking system to see how much the new law would cost the city. He said a system should be put in place that would count the number of landlords cited, and the money collected in fines.

The number of illegal immigrants forced to leave their homes should be documented, he said, and a running tab on legal fees should be accounted for. Many people have threatened to sue the city should the ordinance be enacted.

“This is not intended to be controversial,” Newman said of his request. “It's strictly to establish an accountability process.”

But it was controversial.

Council members Marie Waldron and Sam Abed said any such tracking system, to be fair, should consider what the financial impact of illegal immigration is on the city.

“If we're going to do tracking we need to consider the whole picture,” said Waldron, who proposed the ordinance.

“The time for studies is over,” she added. “It's time for action.”

Councilman Ed Gallo asked, “what is the value of the sanctity and sovereignty and safety of the United States and California and Escondido? Can you put a cost on that?”

He added: “We all know (the ordinance) is going to be effective. You're darn right it will. That's why so many people are afraid of it. It's the cost of running the city, and we're going to do it. I love this town and I'm not going to let it go downhill.”

Gallo then mentioned the recent killing of a police officer in Houston, allegedly by an illegal immigrant, and that Oceanside Police Officer Tony Zeppetella, who was shot to death in June 2003 by an undocumented man.

Newman, a retired San Diego Police captain, became visibly upset. He said he was offended by the suggestion that his request for a tracking system for the proposed ordinance was being equated with the killing of police officers.

“Give me a break here,” he said angrily. “I'm simply trying to give this community some accountability.”

In the end, the council voted unanimously to have a tracking system proposal prepared by staff for consideration next week, which is when the ordinance is scheduled to be presented to the council. The direction was somewhat vague and might not be acted on next week.

Escondido City Attorney Jeffrey Epp said the final touches on the ordinance were being made. His challenge is to create an ordinance that is legally defensible and doesn't violate various federal housing and civil rights laws.

Other smaller cities that have enacted similar laws, mostly on the East Coast, are being sued, and numerous speakers last night said they would try to be first in line at the courthouse should the ordinance pass.

In a letter issued yesterday, the American Civil Liberties Union warned that the proposed ordinance would be difficult to interpret, would probably be pre-empted by numerous federal laws and would “create unnecessary hardship and homelessness, particularly for innocent children, as well as an expensive bureaucracy for the city.”

The letter said the ACLU wa “prepared to launch an immediate legal challenge to any unlawful ordinance that the city of Escondido may enact relating to the issue of immigration.”

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J. Harry Jones: (760) 737-7579; jharry.jones@uniontrib.com