Immigration reform

Immigration reform is the hot button in the 2006 election campaigns.

Candidates for partisan and non-partisan offices on federal, state and local elections have jumped on the bandwagon, all claiming leadership in reform efforts.

The issue is of special interest to Laguna Beach, which has been picketed and sued by the anti-illegal immigration Minuteman Project for alleged support of community groups they believe draw illegal immigrant workers to town.

“Illegal immigration is a terrible problem that has finally come to the top of the radar screen with politicians in D.C. and Sacramento,” Assemblyman Tom Harman said Tuesday at a Laguna Beach Republicans meeting.

Dana Point Councilwoman Diane Harkey also put immigration reform at the top of her to-do list at the meeting, if elected.

“The 800-pound gorilla we have to address is illegal immigration,” Harkey said. “It is costing California taxpayers $10 billion a year.”

Republicans Harman and Harkey were in Laguna competing for local support for election to represent the 35th District in the state senate. Democrat Larry Cabellero is also on the ballot in the open primary on April 11.

“Illegal immigration is the Republican’s number one, number two and number three issue this year,” said Laguna Beach Councilwoman Toni Iseman, a Democrat.

Former Assemblywoman Pat Bates and Laguna Niguel Mayor Cathryn De Young, battling for the non-partisan Fifth District seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors, both support Sheriff Mike Carona’s proposal give local law enforcement agencies the tools to enforce immigration laws.

Carona, who is running for a third term without the county Republican Party endorsement he had eight years ago, is proposing training and cross-designation for deputies that would give them the authority to identify, arrest and deport illegal immigrant criminals and gang members and access to federal immigration data.

The incumbent is opposed by three other Republican candidates for the non-partisan job: Robert Alcaraz, retired Los Angels sergeant, and Commander Ralph Martin of the LA department and Lt. Bill Hunt, the leading challenger.

“Bill’s position is that the current sheriff’s plan is smoke and mirrors,” Hunt spokesman Tim Whitacre said. “He was inspired to reinvent himself by the success of Jim Gilchrist.”

Gilchrist is the founder of the Minuteman Project which demonstrates against illegal immigration, including protests at the day-labor center in Laguna Beach and a blocked attempt to march in the Patriots Day Parade.

“Bill believes the role of the sheriff is to enforce the law, which is to arrest criminals, not conduct sweeps,” Whitacre said. “However, anyone convicted of a felony and found to be illegally in the county should be immediately deported. And importantly, Bill believes that we need to work with the INS and the border patrol, not against them.”

De Young also suggested that the recently created South County Working Group for Immigration Reform ? led by Bates, and which both Pearson-Schneider and Dicterow have joined ? smacks of opportunism.

Formation of the group was announced three days after De Young attended a meeting in Washington D.C. to organize a national Coalition of Mayors and Executives for Immigration Reform.

“This is too important an issue to be left to political gamesmanship,” De Young said.

She said the nationwide coalition will be more likely to capture the attention of federal legislators than representatives of one section of one county.

“What we need is for all the mayors to join the coalition,” De Young said.

The Laguna Niguel City Council continued until the meeting of April 4 a request by De Young to approve the city’s participation in the coalition, in which De Young has been invited to be the Orange County representative.

“This is the first national organization with a specified goal,” De Young said. “We made three points: Ask Congress to secure our borders; empower local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws; and to reimburse local agencies for the cost of the enforcement ? in essence what Mike Corona has requested.”

Bates announced the formation of the South County Working Group for Immigration Reform on March 9.

“We have decided to face the challenge of illegal immigration in the same manner we faced the challenge of the El Toro airport ? by coming together to work on real solutions that will protect our quality of life,” said Bates, who will chair the group.

The list of participants includes elected officials from San Clemente, Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Hills and Laguna Woods and Laguna Beach.

“I am joining the group to give my input,” Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider said. “Local agencies cannot afford the enforcement.”

Mayor Pro Tem Steven Dicterow also will participate.

Committee members, at least for now, do not officially represent their communities. State Assembly members Mimi Walters, Todd Spitzer and Chuck DeVore serve as legislative advisors.

“All of us agree that we need stronger enforcement at the border,” Bates said. “Our group will focus on the impact the system has on our communities and neighborhoods of South County and what we can do to be part of a community solution.”

An organizational meeting will be held March 30, not open to the public.

“We will review, discuss and determine what to do,” Bates said. “I don’t think it will go to the degree of ETRPA [El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, which successfully bucked the county on the conversion of the U.S. Marine Corps airbase to a commercial airport].

“But I think it will be valuable to say we have participated and here is the documentation.

“Among the priorities of South County Working Group for Immigration Reform will be to work with the federal government on how cities can be reimbursed for the expense of enforcing federal law,” Bates said.

Longtime Laguna Beach resident and registered Democrat Arnold Hano said he could go along with the deportation of convicted felons, but he was appalled at a De Young mailer that prominently featured a photograph of handcuffed hands behind the back of a plaid-shirted man.

“It turned my stomach,” Hano said. “I would like to see things continue as they are in Laguna. Elsewhere they should take a step back and look at what can be done other than sweeps, hassles and handcuffs.”

Laguna Beach voters have been bombarded with campaign mailers exhorting support for competing candidates, but recently they have all seemed to concentrate on immigration reform.

“Every one of them has some kind of support for control of our borders,” said Minuteman Project supporter David Connell of Laguna Beach. “It’s really getting kind of nasty. Each of the candidates is accusing the others of ignoring the issue until now and each is claiming that they are the one who will do something about it.

“I am beginning to wonder who to believe and which ones will really put their actions where their mouths are.”