http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/01 ... 190844.txt

Councilman wants to crack down on immigration law

By: LAURA MITCHELL - Staff Writer

MURRIETA ---- Councilman Doug McAllister is proposing that Murrieta become one of the first cities in California to have its Police Department enforce federal immigration laws.

McAllister is asking the council to allow Murrieta police to have the authority to be able to question suspects about their residency once they are detained or arrested. He's not getting much support from the rest of the council, though.

The program is already being used in a few states and being pursued in Costa Mesa, which would be the first city in California to have an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws.


McAllister has been meeting with officials from the Murrieta Police Department, the U.S. Border Patrol and Customs since he proposed his idea at a council meeting in November.

He said he wants to make sure Murrieta is doing everything it can to enforce immigration law.

"Illegal means illegal," McAllister said.

In addition, he said he was inspired by a recent radio talk show broadcast from Warm Springs Middle School in Murrieta. While he was there, McAllister said he heard the concerns of members of the audience, and that's what got his attention.

"I'm not doing this because it's politically popular," he said. "As a councilman, I took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States. I'm not going to look the other way."

Other council members, however, have concerns with his idea.

"I'll keep an open mind, but I'm also cognizant of the existing workload on our Police Department," Mayor Kelly Seyarto said. "I'd hate to burden (them) when we'll have the Border Patrol office right here."

The Border Patrol is moving its station, currently in Temecula, to Murrieta later this month.

Police burden concerns

Councilman Warnie Enochs said recently that the Police Department needs more officers before he could consider supporting the proposal. The department has 73 police officers ---- 12 short of the city's goal of one officer for every 1,000 residents.

"I'm not too hot on McAllister's idea. I'd have to see a lot more information," Enochs said.

Murrieta Police Chief Mark Wright declined to comment on the proposal.

Councilman Rick Gibbs agreed with Enochs, saying that if Murrieta police were to enforce immigration laws, the city would have to re-evaluate the number of officers the city needs.

And others are against the idea as well.

Professor Armando Navarro, chairman of the ethnic studies department at UC Riverside, said having Murrieta police enforce immigration law could lead to ethnic profiling in the city and create fear in the Latino community. People who believe in civil rights ---- not just Latinos ---- need to stand up against this, said Navarro, who is coordinator of the National Alliance of Human Rights, which has opposed similar actions against immigrants.

Immigration enforcement needs to be enforced by federal agents, he said. This type of local enforcement creates an environment of fear in the immigrant community, Navarro said. One problem that could arise is that Latinos in Murrieta would be reluctant to call the police or report a crime, he said.

"I don't think this push to have local law enforcement become a Gestapo-like entity is the answer," Navarro said.

Search for solutions

McAllister said he hopes to work with the community and his fellow council members on their concerns.

He said he wants to make sure his proposal, when he officially brings it to the council sometime later this year, addresses three main issues: that it will be legal, affordable and logistically possible.

McAllister said he does not intend to "reinvent the wheel" to accomplish his goal.

Cooperative agreements between local law enforcement and federal immigration agencies are already working in Georgia and Arizona.

The law provides for an agreement between Customs and local and state law enforcement agencies, Customs spokeswoman Loren Mack said. Local officers can be designated to enforce immigration laws and make immigration arrests, Mack said.

The local law enforcement agency enters into an agreement with Customs that clearly states the exact area of immigration law the local agency intends to enforce, she said. Once the agreement is in place, Customs will then train the officers.

McAllister said he plans to follow the lead of Costa Mesa, where the City Council recently voted to pursue an agreement between its police force and Customs. The final agreement must go back to the council for approval and ---- if approved ---- Costa Mesa could be the first city in the state to have a working agreement with Customs, Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor said.

In Costa Mesa, the public has been insisting the council do something about illegal immigration, said Mansoor, who is an Orange County sheriff's deputy.

"We will focus on the most violent type of offenders," he said.

Once an offender is in custody, the city will start the process of working with Customs to determine if the person is in the country legally, Mansoor said.

Costa Mesa would join the Orange County Sheriff's Department, which is also pursuing an agreement with Customs.

McAllister said he is eager to see how the agreement works in Costa Mesa, but even in the event the agreement fails, he will not be deterred.

"I simply want (our officers) to be able to address the issue of illegal immigration within Murrieta's borders as they go about the normal course of their duties," he said.

Contact staff writer Laura Mitchell at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2621, or lmitchell@californian.com. To comment on this article, go to www.californian.com.