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Laguna left out of immigration talks

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If Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona uses sheriff’s deputies to enforce federal immigration laws, as proposed, Laguna Beach may be left out of the enforcement loop.

Laguna Beach is the only South County city with its own police department, unlike neighboring communities that contract with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement.

The local department has not been included in discussions of the proposal by Sheriff Mike Carona to train deputies to work with federal officials to identify, arrest and deport illegal immigrant felons and gang members.

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“I have heard about the sheriff’s proposed training, but no one has talked to me,” Laguna Beach Police Chief Michael Sellers said.

Laguna has been targeted for protests by anti-illegal immigrant activists who see the city as a haven for undocumented workers.

Fifth District Supervisorial candidate Cathryn De Young, Mayor of Laguna Niguel and a former deputy district attorney favors Corona’s proposal.

“He has refined it to give Orange County Deputies investigators of felony crimes or those stationed at the jail the cross designation as federal immigration agents,” De Young said. “They would have the ability to access the federal data base.”

Corona has been tapped as a speaker at a meeting of the South County Working Group for Immigration Reform, organized by former Assemblywoman Pat Bates, also a candidate for the Fifth District seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

Funding for enforcement is one of the major issues.

“Local agencies can’t afford it,” said Mayor Elizabeth PearsonSchneider.

Immigration reform group organizer Bates said training deputies cost $10,000 each.

A priority of the group, which includes volunteer, not appointed, representatives from all of the South County cities that contract with the sheriff’s office and Laguna Beach, will be to work with the federal government to find ways for local law enforcement agencies to be reimbursed for enforcing federal immigration law.

“We want the federal government to pay, not the county and not local revenue,” Bates said.

Sellers said he knows of no local agency that has anything on the books about local enforcement of immigration laws and has heard of only Costa Mesa even looking into the issue.

No law that he knows of requires anyone to carry identification.

“And there is no law that I know of that requires anyone to produce identification,” Sellers said.

“First amendment rights extend to everyone in this country. They don’t have to be citizens.

“We can always ask, but we have to have reasonable cause.”

QUESTION

Should the Laguna Beach Police Department enforce federal immigration laws within city limits? Write us at P.O. Box 248, Laguna Beach, CA, 92652, e-mail us at coastlinepilot@latimes.com or fax us at (949) 494-8979. Please give your name and tell us your home address and phone number for verification purposes only.

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