Bills focus on immigration

Costa Mesa could get funding to train police for immigration enforcement, under one of three new immigration bills sponsored by Huntington Beach Assemblyman Tom Harman.

But it’s questionable whether the Republican’s bills will do more than generate publicity for Harman as he runs for a state Senate seat in a district where illegal immigration has dominated elections since 2005.

Harman introduced the three bills Friday, a deadline for new legislation to be addressed this session.

One of the bills would create a grant program through which $500,000 would be available to state or local law enforcement agencies that participate in federal immigration training, as Costa Mesa and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department are planning to do.

Another bill would stop employers from claiming tax deductions for wages paid to workers who are in the U.S. illegally. A third bill would prevent illegal immigrants from getting legal aid paid for by state-administered funds.

“People seem to have an awful lot of interest these days in the illegal immigration situation,” Harman said Monday. “I’ve in the past voted on a number of other illegal immigration bills, so this is nothing new for me. It’s kind of following up what I’ve been doing all along anyway.”

Harman, who is termed out of the Assembly after this year, also is in the midst of a campaign for the 35th District state Senate seat. The district includes Newport Beach and Costa Mesa.

Dana Point City Councilwoman Diane Harkey, Harman’s GOP opponent in the Senate race, has been stuffing voters’ mailboxes in recent weeks with mailers proclaiming herself tough on illegal immigration. One mailer sent last week criticized Harman’s vote to allow some illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at state colleges.

Harman defended his vote on the tuition bill, saying it included a safeguard that required students to have applied for legal status to be eligible for in-state tuition.

“I’m glad to see Tom is coming on board,” Harkey said Monday when asked about Harman’s new legislation.

But, she added, “if he was going to do something about illegal immigration, he’s a little bit slow to get involved.”

Last year, Harkey co-chaired a ballot initiative that would have formed a state border police force. Organizers failed to get enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.

Democrat Larry Caballero and Libertarian James Fron are also candidates for the state Senate seat.

The bills have nothing to do with his Senate campaign, he said.

“I’ve been an outspoken critic of the federal government and how they’ve abandoned everybody and are doing nothing on immigration for some time,” he said. “I’m not some Johnny-come-lately on this issue.”

Whatever Harman’s motive may be for introducing the new bills, it’s clear that addressing illegal immigration has been a key political issue since the 2005 special election that elevated former 35th District Sen. John Campbell to a seat in the House. It’s also cropping up in cities around Southern California, including Costa Mesa.

Costa Mesa officials are developing plans to have about 30 police employees trained to check the immigration status of people being investigated for serious felonies. Suspects who are determined to be in the U.S. illegally could be turned over to federal immigration authorities.

State funding would be a boon for the city, where the training program is expected to cost “upwards of $200,000,” Costa Mesa Police Chief John Hensley said.

“There are no federal dollars available for reimbursement, so should something come from the state that would be very exciting for us, because we have not set aside any money to pay for the training,” Hensley said.

But whether any of Harman’s bills will make it through Assembly committees is doubtful. Harman expects Democratic legislators to oppose the bills, and UC Irvine political scientist Louis DeSipio rated their chances of passage as “very, very low,” partly because they’re coming so late in the legislative session.

As for the funding bill, DeSipio said, “I don’t think the Democrats would be too willing to go along with that, particularly since at the moment it would only benefit a limited number of jurisdictions.”

Harman said the bills will be assigned to committees in about 30 days. The special Senate election will be held April 11.