Immigration agent seeks deportation of 46 suspects at Costa Mesa city jail
In his first month on the job, the federal agent stationed in the Costa Mesa jail recommended that 46 foreign-born inmates be deported, triggering praise from anti-illegal-immigration activists and concern from local Latinos.
Jim Hayes, Immigration and Customs Enforcement director for the Los Angeles field office, said he was pleased with the effort in Costa Mesa and planned to replicate it in other Southern California city jails. He said Costa Mesa was a good place to start, in part because of community interest.
"ICE is stepping up their resources
The agent was assigned to the jail in December following a year in which Mayor Allan Mansoor placed emphasis on combating illegal immigration in Costa Mesa. Some county jails check the immigration status of its prisoners, but Costa Mesa is the first Southern California city in recent years to have a permanent immigration officer in its local jail.
ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said the number of those arrested who were sent to a federal judge for deportation proceedings was "higher than we anticipated. But the volume will probably fluctuate significantly" month to month.
Of the 46 suspected illegal immigrants arrested in Costa Mesa last month, 23 are accused of felonies and 23 of misdemeanors, according to city statistics.
One man had an arrest record in five states and had been deported three previous times, Kice said.
Another had drug convictions and been deported five times before, she added.
Most of the 13 misdemeanor cases involving the state's vehicle code involved charges of driving under the influence, said Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Marty Carver.
"It doesn't surprise me that we are finding substantial numbers" of undocumented immigrants, Mayor Mansoor said. "It shows this was needed, and it shows it's effective. I believe it will help reduce crime in our city.
"The bottom line is people need to come here legally."
Of the 403 inmates booked in the jail between Dec. 4 and Dec. 31, 138 were determined to be foreign-born and were interviewed by the federal agent.
By comparison, Orange County Jail officials ran immigration checks on about 200 foreign-born inmates a month in 2005, the latest available figures. Statistics showing how many of those were deported weren't available, officials said.
Federal agents have only intermittently visited other city jails. In Anaheim, for example, the last time a federal agent did immigration checks was about two months ago, said Anaheim Police Sgt. Rick Martinez.
