Thread: Police chief details plan for checks in Costa Mesa

http://www.dailypilot.com/politics/stor ... 5757c.html

Police chief details plan for checks
More than 200 attend meeting about Costa Mesa policy to enforce immigration law.
By Alicia Robinson
(Published: February 8, 2006)

COSTA MESA -- Two months after the City Council voted to train police for immigration enforcement, residents still have questions about how the policy will work and what its purpose is.

More than 200 people packed a gym at St. Joachim Church on Wednesday to learn more and reiterate their concerns about the council's plan.

The forum was organized by the Orange County Congregation Community Organization. It was part of an ongoing outreach effort by Costa Mesa Police Chief John Hensley, who has spoken to a number of residents and community groups about the proposal.

The council in December voted, 3-2, to create a plan to train police to check the immigration status of people who are arrested for aggravated felonies. The plan needs final approval from the council and then would take about six to eight months to get underway, Hensley said.

City officials would work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which would provide the training, and with Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona, who is developing a similar plan.

Hensley repeatedly assured residents police won't make sweeps, raid employers who hire illegal immigrants or harass day laborers.

"We will not be stopping anyone in their cars or on the sidewalk and asking for their immigration papers," he said.

Victims and witnesses of crimes also would not be questioned about their immigration status, he said.

Residents put Hensley to the test, asking about how much the plan will cost, whether new officers will be hired, what kinds of identification people can show, and other questions.

Some answers are still unclear: new officers could be required, if federal officials won't train the city's civilian jail personnel; and the plan could cost as much as $28,000 in overtime for each of the 30 to 40 officers who would be trained.

Supporters of Costa Mesa's plan have said it will narrowly target people who are suspected of other crimes and will make the city safer for everyone.

But some in the community worry it will lead to racial profiling and will cause people to stop reporting crimes because they fear deportation.

"The Hispanic part of our parish is very concerned," said Father Enrique Sera, who heads St. Joachim's congregation. "There's a lot of fear, and that's primarily why we wanted the chief to come and talk."

"If the police officers do what the chief is saying they're going to do, there's no reason for good citizens to be afraid."

Since the council approved the plan, City Hall has been the scene of numerous protests by immigrant-rights activists as well as supporters of tougher immigration enforcement.

One newly formed group, Citizens for Constitutional Rights, has threatened to begin boycotting Costa Mesa businesses in about two months if the council doesn't scrap the immigration plan.

Some residents who still had questions hung around after the forum, but others said it was helpful.

Karen Carter, who is a member of St. Joachim Parish, said she thought the forum was informative, but it raised questions for her husband, Jerry.

He wondered whether background checks aren't already being done on felony suspects, including their immigration status.

"Am I to understand that now if someone's picked up for a felony, they're not checked on?" Jerry Carter said. "That must be the way people came into this country and learned how to fly airplanes into buildings."

As Sera sees it, immigration is one of a number of recent issues that has cut across the community in a troubling way.

"My concern is that there seems to be this polarization going on that's much larger than this one issue, and it's not just here in Costa Mesa -- it's all over the country," he said.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She may be reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at alicia.robinson@latimes.com.

"If the police officers do what the chief is saying they're going to do, there's no reason for good citizens to be afraid."

Of course illegal aliens aren't citizens and since they've already broken the law, just by being here, they can't be characterized as good either.