http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/10 ... _12_05.txt

Escondido council votes to support border initiative

By: DAVID FRIED - Staff Writer

ESCONDIDO ---- A City Council majority on Wednesday voted to throw its support behind a proposed ballot initiative that would create a state-operated border police force.

The council voted 3-2 to support the California Border Police Act, which would establish a new police agency to patrol the U.S-Mexico border and take responsibility for apprehending suspected illegal immigrants in California's communities. Mayor Lori Pfeiler and Councilman Ron Newman voted against the resolution, which is strictly symbolic.

Councilwoman Marie Waldron, who is chairwoman of Californians Against Illegal Immigration and who has been helping collect the 600,000 signatures necessary to place the initiative on the June 2006 ballot, placed the resolution on the council's agenda.


"The federal government has let us down," Waldron said. "We're waiting for government action, and that can't be an option anymore."

The initiative is the brainchild of Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Murrietta, an outspoken critic of illegal immigration. Haynes proposes creating a state border force of 2,000 to 3,000 agents that would operate on an annual budget of about $200 million to $300 million and take on responsibilities currently under the purview of the federal Border Patrol.

A 2004 study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform estimated that California is home to 3 million illegal immigrants, costing the state roughly $9 billion in education, social service, law enforcement and other costs. The Washington D.C-based organization is one of the leading lobbying groups aimed at curbing immigration into the country.

Councilmen Ed Gallo and Sam Abed supported Waldron's resolution, saying that they, too, believed local communities needed to take a stand in working to stem the flow of immigrants illegally crossing into the United States through Mexico.

"Either we're a country of laws, or we aren't," Gallo said.

Abed, a Lebanese immigrant who worked as an IBM engineer in several countries before becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1990, emphasized that he was always required to obtain a work permit or entry visa during his career.

Two audience members, one from Escondido and another from Temecula, also spoke in support of the resolution.

Before voting, Newman, a former police captain, said that he could support the measure, if local law enforcement officials were coming forward to support it.

"But nobody is, nobody is," he said.

And Newman said he is worried that the initiative, as written, could lead to officers of the new force randomly stopping people on the streets based upon their apparent ethnicity.

In opposing the resolution, Pfeiler said she believed it was "wrong to accept responsibility for a federal function."

After the vote, Consuelo Martinez, a Latina activist who helps coordinate the Escondido Human Rights Committee, a local group that opposes Border Patrol sweeps, called the council's decision "upsetting."

"Everyone has a right to campaign for what they believe in," Martinez said in a telephone interview. "However, when you are in a nonpartisan seat and are supposed to represent everyone in your community, it's very inappropriate."

The resolution was not the first time Waldron ---- who is running for an assembly seat in the 74th District next year ---- has taken on immigration issues from the dais.

This summer, she criticized the participation of the Mexican Consulate at the city's annual civic fair, where the consulate had set up a mobile unit where Mexican nationals could apply for an identification card known as a matricula consular.

Waldron's stance drew staunch rebuke from Mexico's consul-general, who defended his agency's distribution of the cards, which are recognized by the federal government and accepted by many local banks, governments and public safety departments as official identification.

Waldron said bringing the issue to the council at this early stage in the initiative process had nothing to do with her assembly bid, adding that the region's overall political climate is focused on more immediate political decisions.

"There's a November election coming up, which is anything but my race," Waldron said.