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Thursday, January 26, 2006
Illegal immigration foes laud mayor
Costa Mesa's Mansoor delivers speech at gathering devoid of protesters.
The Orange County Register


GROUP’S GUEST OF HONOR: Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor arrives at a meeting of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform on Wednesday night in Garden Grove.

MARK AVERY, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

GARDEN GROVE – A group opposing illegal immigration anointed Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor its new hero Wednesday night for championing tougher local enforcement.

Mansoor spoke to a packed meeting of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform, receiving a standing ovation after explaining his plan, which calls for training Costa Mesa police officers to do federal immigration checks on crime suspects.

"I sense there was a public demand for it and a need for it, and I felt our federal government was failing to do its job," Mansoor said.

As he began to speak at the Garden Grove Women's Civic Club, two women in the crowd unfurled a yellow plastic banner urging support of Mansoor that read: "What part of illegal don't you understand?"

Mansoor told the crowd how his father had emigrated from Egypt and his mother from Sweden but that they had never taken any "subsidies." Mansoor said he's angry that undocumented workers are taking jobs, especially middle-class jobs like plumbing and contracting.

"To me, that's un-American, that's inappropriate," he said.

Mansoor also was warmly welcomed by Jim Gilchrist, the Minuteman Project co-founder and failed congressional candidate, who made Mansoor an honorary Minuteman.

"We finally got someone we've elected as a public official who's going to do something about this issue," Gilchrist said. "There is a God."

The coalition organized the meeting with high security, expecting protesters who never showed. The last time Gilchrist spoke to the group at this meeting place, six protesters were arrested after a melee broke out and police stepped in.

Yellow caution tape surrounded the Civic Club grounds, and private security guards were stationed at the front and back doors. Garden Grove police also stood by.

The mood inside the hall was more coffee-klatsch than confrontational, with senior women serving coffee, cookies, cake and brownies.

Mansoor said he's received e-mails and phone calls from across the nation since he announced plans to make Costa Mesa the first municipality in the United States to train local police to do federal immigration work. Costa Mesa's plan will be similar to Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona's.

Carona has been working with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for 18 months, fine-tuning a plan he hopes to take to the Board of Supervisors in February. It calls for training about 200 deputies to make immigration checks in the county jail and to use the federal database during investigations.

The Hispanic community and its allies are highly critical of the plan, calling it the first step toward racial profiling and an end to good relationships with local law enforcement. Despite Carona's promise that the authority won't be used for sweeps or workplace raids, Latinos say some deputies will abuse the privileges and people may be harassed.

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